Internal desynchronisation in blow fly (Calliphora vicina) locomotor activity rhythms: Evidence for a complex circadian pacemaker

摘要

The majority of blow flies (Calliphora vicina) display circadian locomotor activity rhythms that free-run with an unchanging period (tau) in darkness (DD), or entrain to a light-dark cycle (ED 1:23). However, a minority produce more complex patterns (spontaneous changes in tau, arrhythmicity, or 'split' rhythms) in DD, or undergo rhythm dissociation ('internal desynchronisation') when the light pulses of LD 1:23 initially illuminate the subjective night. These patterns are interpreted as evidence for a complex, multioscillatory and multicellular, structure of the insects' circadian system, and this complexity is discussed in terms of the neuronal architecture of the fly's brain. [References: 26]