Ontogenesis of a biological clock for serotonin:acetyl coenzyme A N-acetyltransferase in pineal gland of rat.

Serotonin:acetyl coenzyme A N-acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.5) Activity in pineal gland was assayed in rats which were born and raised under diurnal lighting conditions, in continuous darkness, or in constant light. N-Acetyltransferase activity in the pups raised under diurnal lighting showed a rhythmic pattern, with high enzyme activity during dark period. The pups raised in continuous darkness also showed a rhythmic pattern, the phase of which was delayed by 8 hr in 7-week-old pups; the rhythmic phase of N-acetyltransferase began in the evening in 12-day-old pups and was regularly delayed by 1 hr every week. The pups raised in constant illumination also showed a rhythmic pattern; the rhythmic phase was delayed by 3 hr every week. When the mother rats were coupled in darkness and maintained in darkness during pregnancy and after the pups were born, their pups again showed a rhythmic pattern. These observations indicate that the biological clock for N-acetyltransferase is generated independently of environmental lighting. When mothers were coupled under reversed lighting conditions and transferred into darkness or light, the rhythmic pattern in their pups was inverted 180 degrees from that of pups born of diurnal mothers. When the pups were raised in darkness, the rhythmic phase of N-acetyltransferase in the pups was similar to that of their mothers. It is suggested that in the absence of light-darkness cycle, the mother rat sets the rhythm of the pups to synchronize with her own rhythm. When pups were reared by a foster mother with a different rhythmic pattern from that of their original mother, the rhythmic phase in the pups was closer to that of the original mother, suggesting that the original mother plays the predominant role setting the rhythm of the pups.