Vasopressin Signal Inhibition in Aged Mice Decreases Mortality under Chronic Jet Lag

Summary

Chronic jet lag, a model of shiftwork, increases mortality in aged mice. One potential reason for this association is that the chronic desynchronization between the internal clock phase and the environmental light/dark (LD) cycle might increase the mortality rate. However, this hypothesis has not been examined because of the lack of an appropriate animal model to prove this speculation. Here, we found that rapidly entrainable vasopressin receptor V1a ^–/– V1b ^–/– mice showed lower mortality under a chronic jet lag condition. Moreover, we found that pharmacological inactivation of V1a and V1b signaling decreased mortality even in aged wild-type mice, thus providing a potential pharmaceutical intervention for shiftwork-related health problems.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

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  Chronic jet lag increases mortality in aged mice

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  Rapidly resetting V1a ^–/– V1b ^–/– mice showed lower mortality under chronic jet lag

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  Pharmacological inactivation of V1a/V1b signaling decreased mortality in aged WT mice

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  A potential pharmaceutical intervention for shiftwork-related health problems

Abstract

Human Activity in Medical Context; Neuroscience; Behavioral Neuroscience