Impaired light masking in dopamine D2 receptor-null mice.

Masao Doi (1) , Irene Yujnovsky (1) , Jun Hirayama (1) , Monica Malerba (1) , Emanuele Tirotta (1) , Paolo Sassone-Corsi (1) , Emiliana Borrelli (1)

1 IGBMC - Institut de génétique et biologie moléculaire et cellulaire

Disruption of overt circadian rhythms can occur without influencing the endogenous pacemaker, the so-called 'masking' effect classically elicited by light. As the physiological pathways involved in light masking remain elusive, we analyzed mice lacking the dopamine D2 receptor. Although circadian rhythmicity was normal, D2R-null mice showed a markedly deficient light masking response, indicating that D2R-mediated signaling is an essential component of the neuronal pathways leading to light masking of circadian rhythms.

Domaines: Biologie moléculaire

Masao Doi, Irene Yujnovsky, Jun Hirayama, Monica Malerba, Emanuele Tirotta, et al.. Impaired light masking in dopamine D2 receptor-null mice.. Nature Neuroscience, 2006, 9 (6), pp.732-4. ⟨10.1038/nn1711⟩. ⟨hal-00187891⟩