Effects of feeding and light cycles on activity rhythms of maternally isolated rat pups.

Motor activity of infant rat pups was measured continuously between days 3 and 18 of postnatal age. Mother-reared rats on a 12:12 LD cycle exhibited significant rhythmic activity in the circadian range as early as day 5 of postnatal age. Some of the pups reared in isolation from maternal and sibling contact and kept on 12:12 LD cycles, feeding cycles, or combinations of feeding, temperature, and LD cycles also showed rhythmic activity but it was less persistent and of a lower amplitude than the rhythms of the mother-reared group. In the isolated rat pups nocturnal partitioning of activity was strengthened in the presence of both a light-dark cycle and a feeding cycle but only when the feeding resembled more natural nursing rhythms. In animals kept on constant light and a feeding cycle, activity occurred slightly more often during the 12-hr interval of decreased food intake. The addition of a temperature cycle--cooler nocturnal temperature--decreased the proportions of nocturnal motor activity. These results indicate that feeding and light-dark cycles may contribute to the synchronization of activity rhythms during the early postnatal period.