Cell Signaling in the Circadian Pacemaker: New Insights from in vivo Imaging.

Background: "One for all, and all for one," the famous rallying cry of the Three Musketeers, in Alexandre Dumas's popular novel, certainly applies to the 20,000 cells composing the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). These cells work together to form the central clock that coordinates body rhythms in tune with the day-night cycle. Like virtually every body cell, individual SCN cells exhibit autonomous circadian oscillations, but this rhythmicity only reaches a high level of precision and robustness when the cells are coupled with their neighbors. Therefore, understanding the functional network organization of SCN cells beyond their core rhythmicity is an important issue in circadian biology.

Summary: The present review summarizes the main results from our recent study demonstrating the feasibility of recording SCN cells in freely moving mice and the significance of variations in intracellular calcium over several timescales.

Key message: We discuss how in vivo imaging at the cell level will be pivotal to interrogate the mammalian master clock, in an integrated context that preserves the SCN network organization, with intact inputs and outputs.