Photic and non‐photic entrainment on daily rhythm of locomotor activity in goats

Abstract

We studied the photic (L/D cycle) and non-photic (restricted feeding) entrainment on the patterns of daily rhythm of total locomotor activity in goats. Six female Maltese goats were subjected to three different artificial L/D cycles: 12/12 L/D, 12/12 D/L and constant light. During the 12/12 L/D and 12/12 D/L, food and water were available ad libitum. During constant light, animals were subjected to a restricted feeding treatment. Total activity was recorded by means of an actigraphy-based data logger (Actiwatch-Mini). Our results showed that goats exhibited clear daily rhythms of activity in 12/12 L/D cycle, 12/12 D/L cycle and constant light, although they showed FAA prior the feeding time during the restricted feeding treatment. Goats were diurnal, with activity consistently beginning promptly following the onset of light. Even when the L/D cycle was delayed by 12 h on some days, to the daily rhythm was re-established. During the constant light period, the onset of activity was linked to the time of food administration. Our study evidences two factors for the rhythm of total locomotor activity in goats: light stimuli (photic) and food access (non photic), strongly coupled to permit organisms the adaptive temporal coordination of behaviour with stable and unstable environmental periodicities.

Validation of locomotion scoring as a new and inexpensive technique to record circadian locomotor activity in large mammals

“…The fact that the two evaluators scoring obtained identical rhythms exhibits a low inter-evaluators CV. On the other hand, the obtained LA rhythm has been validated by using an accurate accelerometer device (the Actiwatch-Mini ® ), previously used in different species including the goat, sheep, horse, rabbit, cow and dog (Bertolucci et al., 2008; Giannetto et al., 2010, 2018; Piccione et al., 2010, 2013). The Spearman Rank Correlation test also demonstrates the existence of a strong correlation between the two methods and the paired t-test confirmed the existence of the same period and acrophase.…”

“…The Actiwatch measures acceleration and is more accurate in detection of LA than the scoring method. However, the later has the advantage to detect all kinds of movements performed by the animal during 24h; while, the automatic devices are not able to do so, since only conscious and unconscious movements are considered as locomotor activity (total LA) (Hetem et al., 2012; Giannetto et al., 2010; Piccione et al., 2010). For example, it is not possible to distinguish, from the data of the Actiwatch device if the animal moves in standing position (score 3), or walks (score 4) or displays an agitated state (score 5).…”

Acupuncture Improves Sleep Conditions of Minipigs Representing Diurnal Animals through an Anatomically Similar Point to the Acupoint (GV20) Effective for Humans

“…An actigraph (Octagonal Basic Motionlogger; Ambulatory Monitoring, Inc., Ardsley, NY, USA) was worn 24 h/d on the body of the pigs for 2-3 consecutive weeks (Figure 2) [25, 26]. We used Zero-Crossing Mode for quantification of movement with ACTION-W 2.0 software.…”

Entrainment of circadian rhythms of locomotor activity by ambient temperature cycles in the dromedary camel

“…Such experimental demonstrations are rather well characterized and numerous in laboratory and wild rodents, marsupials, bats and non-human primates 19 – 25 . Furthermore, the LD cycle entrainment of the LA circadian rhythm has been also well established in several mammalian species including rat 24 , 26 , mice 27 , Mahali mole rat 28 , rabbit 18 , cat 17 , desert hedgehog 24 and goat 29 , 30 . The LD cycle was shown to be the most powerful zeitgeber for the central circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus (for review see 31 , 32 ).…”