Circadian phase resetting by a single short-duration light exposure
Shadab A. Rahman, Melissa A. St. Hilaire, Anne-Marie Chang, Nayantara Santhi, Jeanne F. Duffy, Richard E. Kronauer, Charles A. Czeisler, Steven W. Lockley, Elizabeth B. Klerman
Shadab A. Rahman, Melissa A. St. Hilaire, Anne-Marie Chang, Nayantara Santhi, Jeanne F. Duffy, Richard E. Kronauer, Charles A. Czeisler, Steven W. Lockley, Elizabeth B. Klerman
View: Text | PDF
Clinical Research and Public Health Neuroscience

Circadian phase resetting by a single short-duration light exposure

Abstract

BACKGROUND. In humans, a single light exposure of 12 minutes and multiple-millisecond light exposures can shift the phase of the circadian pacemaker. We investigated the response of the human circadian pacemaker to a single 15-second or 2-minute light pulse administered during the biological night.

METHODS. Twenty-six healthy individuals participated in a 9-day inpatient protocol that included assessment of dim light melatonin onset time (DLMO time) before and after exposure to a single 15-second (n = 8) or 2-minute (n = 12) pulse of bright light (9,500 lux; 4,100 K fluorescent) or control background dim light (<3 lux; n = 6). Phase shifts were calculated as the difference in clock time between the two phase estimates.

RESULTS. Both 15-second and 2-minute exposures induced phase delay shifts [median (± SD)] of –34.8 ± 47.2 minutes and –45.4 ± 28.4 minutes, respectively, that were significantly (P = 0.04) greater than the control condition (advance shift: +22.3 ± 51.3 minutes) but were not significantly different from each other. Comparisons with historic data collected under the same conditions confirmed a nonlinear relationship between exposure duration and the magnitude of phase shift.

CONCLUSIONS. Our results underscore the exquisite sensitivity of the human pacemaker to even short-duration single exposures to light. These findings may have real-world implications for circadian disruption induced by exposure to brief light stimuli at night.

TRIAL REGISTRATION. The study was registered as a clinical trial on www.clinicaltrials.org, NCT #01330992.

FUNDING. Funding for this study was provided by NSBRI HFP02802 and NIH P01-AG09975, R01-HL114088 (EBK), RC2-HL101340-0 (EBK, SWL, SAR, REK), K02-HD045459 (EBK), K24-HL105664 (EBK), T32-HL07901 (MSH, SAR), HL094654 (CAC), and AG044416 (JFD). The project described was supported by NIH grant 1UL1 TR001102-01, 8UL1TR000170-05, UL1 RR 025758, Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science.

Authors

Shadab A. Rahman, Melissa A. St. Hilaire, Anne-Marie Chang, Nayantara Santhi, Jeanne F. Duffy, Richard E. Kronauer, Charles A. Czeisler, Steven W. Lockley, Elizabeth B. Klerman

×
Problems with a PDF?

This file is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you have not installed and configured the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.

Having trouble reading a PDF?

PDFs are designed to be printed out and read, but if you prefer to read them online, you may find it easier if you increase the view size to 125%.

Having trouble saving a PDF?

Many versions of the free Acrobat Reader do not allow Save. You must instead save the PDF from the JCI Online page you downloaded it from. PC users: Right-click on the Download link and choose the option that says something like "Save Link As...". Mac users should hold the mouse button down on the link to get these same options.

Having trouble printing a PDF?

  1. Try printing one page at a time or to a newer printer.
  2. Try saving the file to disk before printing rather than opening it "on the fly." This requires that you configure your browser to "Save" rather than "Launch Application" for the file type "application/pdf", and can usually be done in the "Helper Applications" options.
  3. Make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe's Acrobat Reader.

Supplemental data - Download (45.83 KB)

Advertisement