Induction of Fos expression in the circadian system by unsignaled light is attenuated as a result of previous experience with signaled light: a role for Pavlovian conditioning.

A circadian clock responsive to light is located in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus. In rodents, light induces the expression of the transcription factor Fos in cells of the suprachiasmatic nucleus and this effect is associated with light-induced resetting of the circadian clock. Until recently, it was thought that the induction of Fos in the suprachiasmatic nucleus was mediated by a mechanism uniquely sensitive to photic cues. We have shown, however, using Pavlovian conditioning procedures, that a nonphotic stimulus that has been repeatedly paired with light can, in the absence of light, induce Fos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. In the present study we asked whether, as a result of conditioning, the ability of light alone to induce Fos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus might be altered. We suspected that once the mechanism mediating Fos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus had become tuned to receiving light signaled by a conditioned stimulus, the response to presentation of light alone would be diminished. To study this possibility we investigated whether induction of Fos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus by unsignaled light would be altered as a result of previous experience with signaled light. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that a series of conditioning trials not only confers upon a nonphotic stimulus the ability to activate the mechanism mediating Fos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, but also reduces the efficacy of light itself to activate this mechanism.