Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Light-induced suppression of endogenous circadian amplitude in humans

Nature volume 350, pages 59–62 (1991)Cite this article

Abstract

WINFREE reported 20 years ago the intriguing finding that a light stimulus of a critical strength applied at a critical circadian phase could essentially stop the circadian clock in Drosophila pseudoobscura by resetting the circadian oscillator close to its singularity (a phaseless position at which the amplitude of circadian oscillation is zero)1. Since then, similar observations of attenuated circadian amplitude in response to critical stimuli have been limited to unicells, insects and plants2-7. Our recent demonstration that the phase of the human circadian pacemaker could be inverted using an unconventional three-cycle stimulus8,9 led us to investigate whether critically timed exposure to a more moderate stimulus could drive that oscillator towards its singularity. Here we report that exposure of humans to fewer cycles of bright light, centred around the time at which the human circadian pacemaker is most sensitive to light-induced phase shifts, can markedly attenuate endogenous circadian amplitude. In some cases this results in an apparent loss of rhythmicity, as expected to occur in the region of singularity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Winfree, A. T. J. theor. Biol. 28, 327–374 (1970).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Saunders, D. S. J. comp. Physiol. 124, 75–95 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Engelmann, W. & Johnsson, A. Physiol. Plant 43, 68–78 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Walz, B. & Sweeney, B. M. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 6443–6447 (1979).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Peterson, E. L. J. comp. Physiol. 138, 201–211 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Taylor, W., Krasnow, R., Dunlap, J. C., Broda, H. & Hastings, J. W. J. comp. Physiol. 148, 11–25 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Malinowski, J. R., Laval-Martin, D. L. & Edmunds, L. N. J. comp. Physiol. 155, 257–267 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Czeisler, C. A. et al. Science 244, 1328–1333 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Strogatz, S. H. J. biol. Rhythms 5, 169–174 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Winfree, A. T. J. comp. Physiol. 85, 105–140 (1973).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Mills, J. N., Minors, D. S. & Waterhouse, J. M. J. Physiol., Lond. 285, 455–470 (1978).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Winfree, A. T. The Timing of Biological Clocks (Scientific American Books, New York, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Eskin, A. in Biochronometry (ed. Menaker, M.) 55–80 (National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Enright, J. T. & Winfree, A. T. Lect. Math. Life Sci. 19, 121–150 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gander, P. H. & Lewis, R. D. Am. J. Physiol. 245, R10–R17 (1983).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Brown, E. N. thesis, 1–116, Harvard Univ. (1987).

  17. Czeisler, C. A. et al. New Engl. J. Med. 322, 1253–1259 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Kronauer, R. E. in Sleep '90 (ed. Horne, J. A.) 306–309 (Pontenagel, Bochum, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Megan E. Jewett

    Present address: Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

  2. Charles A. Czeisler: To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Circadian and Sleep Disorders Medicine, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    Megan E. Jewett & Charles A. Czeisler

  2. Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Richard E. Kronauer

Authors
  1. Megan E. Jewett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard E. Kronauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Charles A. Czeisler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jewett, M., Kronauer, R. & Czeisler, C. Light-induced suppression of endogenous circadian amplitude in humans. Nature 350, 59–62 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350059a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350059a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing