Female fertility does not require in suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons expressing arginine vasopressin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, or neuromedin-S.

Disruptions to the circadian system alter reproductive capacity, particularly in females. Mice lacking the core circadian clock gene, , are infertile and have evidence of neuroendocrine disruption including the absence of the preovulatory luteinizing hormone (LH) surge and enhanced responsiveness to exogenous kisspeptin. Here, we explore the role of in suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) neuron populations known to project to the neuroendocrine axis. We generated four mouse lines using Cre/Lox technology to create conditional deletion of in arginine vasopressin ( ), vasoactive intestinal peptide ( ), both ( ), and neuromedin-s ( ) neurons. We demonstrate that the loss of in these populations has substantial effects on home-cage circadian activity and temperature rhythms. Despite this, we found that female mice from these lines demonstrated normal estrus cycles, fecundity, kisspeptin responsiveness, and inducible LH surge. We found no evidence of reproductive disruption in constant darkness. Overall, our results indicate that while conditional knockout in AVP, VIP, or NMS neurons is sufficient to disrupted locomotor activity, this disruption is insufficient to recapitulate the neuroendocrine reproductive effects of the whole-body knockout.