How Coupling Determines the Entrainment of Circadian Clocks

Details How Coupling Determines the Entrainment of Circadian Clocks How Coupling Determines the Entrainment of Circadian Clocks

2011-07-26

arxiv.org/abs/1107.5137v1

Nonlinear Sciences

Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems

Scientific paper

Autonomous circadian clocks drive daily rhythms in physiology and behaviour. A network of coupled neurons, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), serves as a robust self-sustained circadian pacemaker. Synchronization of this timer to the environmental light-dark cycle is crucial for an organism's fitness. In a recent theoretical and experimental study it was shown that coupling governs the entrainment range of circadian clocks. We apply the theory of coupled oscillators to analyse how diffusive and mean-field coupling affects the entrainment range of interacting cells. Mean-field coupling leads to amplitude expansion of weak oscillators and, as a result, reduces the entrainment range. We also show that coupling determines the rigidity of the synchronized SCN network, i.e. the relaxation rates upon perturbation. %(Floquet exponents). Our simulations and analytical calculations using generic oscillator models help to elucidate how coupling determines the entrainment of the SCN. Our theoretical framework helps to interpret experimental data.

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