Kosin Medical Journal

Original article

Analysis of ultradian rest-activity rhythms using locomotor activity in mice: Jung Hyun Lee, Eunsoo Moon, Jeonghyun Park, Yoo Rha Hong, Min Yoon; Kosin Med J. 2022;37(2):127-133. Published online June 24, 2022; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7180/kmj.22.023

Abstract PDF PubReader ePub: Background
Locomotor activity in mice may have an ultradian rest-activity rhythm. However, to date, no study has shown how locomotor activity can be explained statistically using fitted cosine curves. Therefore, this study explored whether the ultradian rhythm of locomotor activity in mice could be analyzed using cosine fitting analysis.
Methods
The locomotor activity of 20 male mice under a 12/12-hour dark/light cycle for 2 days was fitted to a cosine function to obtain the best fit. The mean absolute error (MAE) values were used to determine the explanatory power of the calculated cosine model for locomotor activity. The cosine fitting analysis was performed using R statistical software (version 4.1.1).
Results
The mean MAE was 0.2944, whereas the mean MAE for integrating the individual analyses in the two experimental groups was 0.3284. The periods of the estimated ultradian rest-activity rhythm ranged from 1.602 to 4.168 hours.
Conclusions
These results suggest that locomotor activity data reflect an ultradian rhythm better than a circadian rhythm. Locomotor activity can be statistically fitted to a cosine curve under well-controlled conditions. In the future, it will be necessary to explore whether this cosine-fitting analysis can be used to analyze ultradian rhythms under different experimental conditions.

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