Objective: Ultradian rhythms are biological rhythms with periods of a few seconds to a few hours. Along with circadian rhythms, ultradian rhythms influence human physiology. However, such rhythms have not been studied as intensively as circadian rhythms. In this study, our aim was to identify ultradian rest-activity rhythms induced by the dopamine D2 and D3 agonist quinpirole in mice using continuous wavelet analysis.
Methods: We used ten mice from the Institute of Cancer Research. Quinpirole was administered at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg. We assessed free rest-activity using infrared detectors and conducted wavelet analysis to measure the period and its variation. We also used the paired t-test to compare ultradian rhythm patterns.
Results: Quinpirole did not significantly change total 24-hour locomotor activity (p=0.065). However, it significantly increased locomotor activity during the dark phase (p=0.001) and decreased it during the light phase (p=0.016). In the continuous wavelet transform analysis, the mean period was 5.618 hours before quinpirole injection and 4.523 hours after injection. The period showed a significant decrease (p=0.040), while the variation remained relatively consistent (p=0.871) before and after quinpirole injection.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated ultradian rest-activity rhythms induced by quinpirole using wavelet analysis. Quinpirole-induced ultradian rhythms exhibited rapid oscillations with shortened periods and increased activity during the dark phase. To better understand these changes in ultradian rhythms caused by quinpirole, it is essential to compare them with the effects of other psychopharmacological agents. Furthermore, investigating the pharmacological impact on ultradian rest-activity rhythms may have valuable applications in clinical studies.