High salt mimics effects of light pulses on circadian pacemaker in cultured chick pineal cells.

Chick pineal cells in static culture display a persistent photosensitive circadian rhythm of melatonin production and release. Pulses of white light or darkness, in otherwise constant red light, induce phase shifts in subsequent cycles whose magnitude and direction depend on the phase at which the pusle is given. Such "phase-dependent phase shifts" are mediated by effects on the underlying pacemaker. We reported previously that inhibiting the Na+-K+-adenosinetriphosphatase with ouabain evokes phase shifts with the same phase dependence as those induced by pulses of darkness. Two of the consequences of inhibiting the Na+ pump are membrane depolarization and cell swelling. To test the relevance of these effects and to distinguish between them, we exposed chick pineal cells to pulses of high concentrations of added KCl, which should cause both membrane depolarization and cell shrinkage. We also compared the effects of added NaCl, sodium gluconate, and mannitol, which should cause cell shrinkage without comparable depolarization. Each of these hypertonic solutions induced phase shifts in the melatonin rhythm with the same phase dependence as those caused by pulses of light rather than those caused by ouabain or darkness. These results argue strongly against a dominant role for changes in membrane potential in phase shifting the melatonin rhythm. Rather, they suggest that cell swelling may mediate the darklike effects of ouabain on the circadian pacemaker in chick pineal cells and indicate that cell shrinkage mimics the effects of light.