Social isolation of mice: activity rhythm changes and the expression of clock |
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Authors: | Hang Yu Xiaoxue Li Xuepei Li Fang Qi Bo Peng Zhou Jiang |
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Institution: | 1. China Health Ministry Key Lab of Chronobiology, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences &2. Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China |
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Abstract: | Social isolation usually affects the physical and mental health of the human and produces depression, whether it may relate with circadian rhythm still remains to be investigated. Two groups of mice were employed to this experiment to continuously monitoring their activities in a dark environment. Immunofluorescence was used to show the expression of the circadian clock gene in two groups of mice. The results demonstrate that the social isolation leads to decrease of mouse activities, phase advance of rhythm relatively and down-regulated of clock gene expression. We conclude that social isolation can affect the physiological function and the normal physiological rhythm of mice, which may be related to depression. |
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Keywords: | Social isolation group housed locomotor activity circadian rhythm clock genes |
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