Discuss the Role of Endogenous Pacemakers and Exogenous Zeitgebers in Circadian Rhythms.

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A circadian rhythm is a natural change in a biological process which occurs roughly every 24 hours. The most well known example would be the sleep wake cycle which occurs once every 24 hours. The sleep-wake cycle is known as an endogenous pacemaker which can be affected by external factors, also known as exogenous zeitgebers, such as noise, light, social cues and the temperature. The most dominant endogenous pacemaker (or central oscillator) we have is the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which is located on top of the optic chiasm. It is a small bundle of cells found in the hypothalamus and is used to detect light. When light goes into the retina, or when there is an absence of light, a signal is sent through the optic nerve to the SCN. The SCN detects the light, or lack thereof, and sends a signal to the pineal gland, which alter the hormonal balance accordingly. If light is detected, the pineal gland represses melatonin, thus keeping us awake. When there is an absence of light, melatonin is released which inhibits brain wakefulness and induces sleep. The pineal gland was originally thought to be the central oscillator but it was discovered through research that it was more of a subsidiary system. Stephan and Zucker (1971) removed the SCN’s of rats and found that the sleep wake cycle disappears. Morgan (1995) found the same results with hamsters which shows a definite trend amongst rodents although it would not necessarily be the same for humans and because of ethical guidelines, the only way they would be able to test this would be using brain damaged patients. Some research on brain damaged patients such as that by Green and Gillette found that there is still electronic movement around the SCN in circadian sleep patterns even thought they were no longer connected. Although there is lots of research done on brain activity and the role of the SCN, it can’t be

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