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These neuropsychiatric diseases can be induced or worsened by alterations to daily light patterns and can also be treated with circadian-timed bright-light therapy, suggesting modulatory effects of light brightness on mood and behavior. While most laboratory rodents are nocturnal, the Nile grass rat (Arvicanthis niloticus) is diurnal, offering a unique model to study light modulation effects relevant to humans. In this work, we track daily activity in male and female grass rats under varied lighting for several weeks, revealing sex-specific circadian patterns and responses. These findings establish a foundation for mechanistic studies of light effects on mood-related brain circuits in diurnal animals.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.06.17.732698","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]],"date-time":"2026-06-23T01:25:17Z","timestamp":1782177917000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Altered Lighting Conditions Elicit Sex-Specific Circadian Behaviors in Diurnal Grass Rats"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0270-3311","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeremiah","family":"Hartner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Watson Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Noah","family":"Muscat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Watson Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mujtaba","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Watson Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katrina","family":"Linning-Duffy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Yan Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diksha","family":"Zutshi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Watson Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0807-7526","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicolette","family":"Ognjanovski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Watson Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6261-2542","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lily","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Yan Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9940-4579","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brendon O.","family":"Watson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Watson Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026062408500645000_2026.06.17.732698v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nn.2134"},{"key":"2026062408500645000_2026.06.17.732698v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41386-018-0307-2"},{"key":"2026062408500645000_2026.06.17.732698v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferenczi EA , Zalocusky KA , Liston C , Grosenick L , Warden MR , Amatya D , et al. 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