A theoretical approach to the mechanism of jet lag using multiple-oscillator models

摘要

Jet-lag symptoms result from temporal mismatch between the internal circadian clock and external solar time. Recent experiments on mice indicate that jet lag is due to complex clock cell dynamics in the brain including desynchronization within clock cells. We consider some models possessing the hierarchical structure of clock cells in the brain. We focus primarily on the effects of light stimuli undergoing daily variation and mutual coupling between clock cells. The results reveal that jet lag corresponding to eastbound long-distance trips strongly disturbs oscillator dynamics and causes slow re-entrainment.