Dissociation of circadian rhythms in rats with a hypothalamic island.

Complete isolation of the medial basal hypothalamus, including the suprachiasmatic nuclei in the isolated island, from the rest of the central nervous system was performed in rats. The circadian rhythm of plasma corticosterone level remained essentially intact in 5 of 16 rats with complete islands, whereas that of spontaneous locomotor activity was decomposed into ultradian bursts in 15 rats, resulting in a clear dissociation of the two rhythms in four rats. One rat, whose circadian rhythm of both variables persisted after the hypothalamic isolation, showed a diurnal activity. The 24-h patterns of plasma corticosterone of the other rats could be characterized as either episodic or continuously low throughout the day. A prefeeding corticosterone peak was detected under restricted feeding in rats with episodic fluctuations but not in those with continuously low hormone levels. It is concluded that the hypothalamic island includes the fundamental structures necessary for the manifestation of the entrained circadian rhythm of plasma corticosterone in rats under ad libitum feeding, whereas it contains only a part of that for spontaneous locomotor activity. The coupling pathways from the circadian oscillator(s) to these overt rhythms seem to be separate in the central nervous system, and the circadian rhythm of plasma corticosterone is not a direct consequence of that of locomotor activity.