Circadian clocks control most physiological processes of many species. We specifically wanted to investigate the influence of environmental and endogenous rhythms and their interplay on electrophysiological dynamics of neuronal populations. Therefore, we measured local field potential (LFP) time series in wild-type and Cryptochrome 1 and 2 deficient (Cry1/2^−/−) mice in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the nucleus accumbens under regular light conditions and constant darkness. Using refined descriptive and statistical analyses, we systematically profiled LFP time series activity. We show that both environmental and endogenous rhythms strongly influence the rhythmicity of LFP signals and their frequency components, but also shape neuronal patterns on much smaller time scales, as neuronal activity in Cry1/2^−/− mice is significantly less regular but at each time more synchronous within and between brain areas than in wild-type mice. These results show that functional circadian rhythms are integral for both circadian and non-circadian coordination of neuronal ensemble dynamics.

生物钟控制着许多物种的大多数生理过程。我们特别想研究环境和内源性节律的影响及其对神经元群电生理动力学的相互作用。因此，我们在常规光照条件和恒定黑暗下测量了视交叉上核和伏隔核中野生型和隐花色素 1 和 2 缺陷型 （Cry1/2 ^{- / -} ） 小鼠的局部场电位 （LFP） 时间序列。使用精细的描述性和统计分析，我们系统地分析了 LFP 时间序列活动。我们表明，环境和内源性节律都强烈影响 LFP 信号的节律性及其频率分量，但也在更小的时间尺度上塑造神经元模式，因为 Cry1/2 ^{- / -} 小鼠的神经元活动明显不那么规则，但每次在大脑区域内和大脑区域之间都比野生型小鼠更同步。这些结果表明，功能性昼夜节律对于神经元集合动力学的昼夜节律和非昼夜节律协调都是不可或缺的。