ArticleJournal of affective disorders2023
Effects of light therapy on sleep/wakefulness, daily rhythms, and the central orexin system in a diurnal rodent model of seasonal affective disorder.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Depression among nursing students in Pakistan: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of phototherapy on biopterin, neopterin, tryptophan, and behavioral neuroinflammatory reaction in patients with post-stroke depression.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Central hypocretin/orexin administration alleviates sleep/wake disturbances, anhedonia, and neuroinflammation in an animal model of seasonal affective disorder.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Daylight, Daily Rhythms, and Downstream Physiology: A Translational Study in Diurnal Nile Grass Rats (Journal of biological rhythms · 2026Article
- Beyond vision: effects of light on the circadian clock and mood-related behaviours.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2025Review
- Review
- Effects of bright light therapy on neuroinflammatory and neuroplasticity markers in a diurnal rodent model of Seasonal Affective Disorder.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBright light therapy (BLT) is the first-line treatment for seasonal affective disorder. However, the neural mechanisms underlying BLT are unclear. To begin filling this gap, the present study examined the impact of BLT on sleep/wakefulness, daily rhythms, and the wakefulness-promoting orexin/hypocretin system in a diurnal rodent, Nile grass rats (Arvicanthis niloticus).
methodsMale and female grass rats were housed under a 12:12 h light/dark cycle with dim light (50 lx) during the day. The experimental group received daily 1-h early morning BLT (full-spectrum white light, 10,000 lx), while the control group received narrowband red light for 4 weeks. Sleep/wakefulness and in-cage locomotor activity were monitored, followed by examination of hypothalamic prepro-orexin and orexin receptors OX1R and OX2R expression in corticolimbic brain regions.
resultsThe BLT group had higher wakefulness during light treatment, better nighttime sleep quality, and improved daily rhythm entrainment compared to controls. The impact of BLT on the orexin system was sex- and brain region-specific, with males showing higher OX1R and OX2R in the CA1, while females showed higher prepro-orexin but lower OX1R and OX2R in the BLA, compared to same-sex controls. LIMITATIONS: The present study focused on the orexin system in a limited number of brain regions at a single time point. Sex wasn't a statistical factor, as male and female cohorts were run independently.
conclusionsThe diurnal grass rats show similar behavioral responses to BLT as humans, thus could be a good model for further elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of BLT.
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