期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1971
卷号：68
期号：12
页码：3107-3110
DOI：10.1073/pnas.68.12.3107
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：There is a diurnal rhythm in the activity of serotonin N-acetyltransferase in the rat pineal gland. In the normal rat, the nocturnal enzyme activities are 15-to 30-fold greater than are daytime activities. This rhythm is abolished by decentralization or removal of the superior cervical ganglia, procedures that interrupt the only source of central neural input to the pineal gland. This effect of superior cervical sympathectomy on the N-acetyltransferase rhythm cannot be attributed to changes occurring in the denervated pineal parenchymal cells. When chronically denervated glands are placed in organ culture with norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter normally located in sympathetic terminals in the gland, N-acetyltransferase activity increases 10- to 20-fold. These data indicate that superior cervical sympathectomy abolishes the N-acetyltransferase rhythm by elimination of the input of central signals to the gland. These signals appear to regulate the N-acetyltransferase rhythm in the normal rat by regulation of the release of norepinephrine from the sympathetic terminals within the pineal gland.
关键词：rat ; diurnal rhythm ; melatonin ; N -acetylserotonin ; organ culture ; circadian enzyme regulation
