Cognitive and neurobehavioral benefits of an enriched environment on young adult mice after chronic ethanol consumption during adolescence

Abstract

Binge drinking (BD) is a common pattern of ethanol (EtOH) consumption by adolescents. The brain effects of the acute EtOH exposure are well-studied; however, the long-lasting cognitive and neurobehavioral consequences of BD during adolescence are only beginning to be elucidated. Environmental enrichment (EE) has long been known for its benefits on the brain and may serve as a potential supportive therapy following EtOH exposure. In this study, we hypothesized that EE may have potential benefits on the cognitive deficits associated with BD EtOH consumption. Four-week-old C57BL/6J male mice were exposed to EtOH following an intermittent 4-day drinking-in-the-dark procedure for 4 weeks. Then they were exposed to EE during EtOH withdrawal for 2 weeks followed by a behavioral battery of tests including novel object recognition, novel location, object-in-place, rotarod, beam walking balance, tail suspension, light-dark box and open field that were run during early adulthood. Young adult mice exposed to EE significantly recovered recognition, spatial and associative memory as well as motor coordination skills and balance that were significantly impaired after adolescent EtOH drinking with respect to controls. No significant permanent anxiety or depressive-like behaviors were observed. Taken together, an EE exerts positive effects on the long-term negative cognitive deficits as a result of EtOH consumption during adolescence.

Adolescent binge‐ethanol accelerates cognitive impairment and β‐amyloid production and dysregulates endocannabinoid signaling in the hippocampus of APP/PSE mice

“…This is coherent with a toxic effect by EtOH by itself in aging. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Besides, we found that EtOH acts synergistically with AZ mutations aggravating pathology, because the latency to reach the goal box was higher in AZ-EtOH concerning AZ-Sal on maze 1, and the number of errors was increased in this group compared with both WT-EtOH and AZ-Sal on maze 8. These behavioral alterations in AZ cannot be due to a specific effect of EtOH on locomotion in these transgenic mice, because pilot studies from our lab (unpublished results) revealed that this treatment reduces similarly the locomotor activity in both genotypes at 6 months of age, and it does not alter it in 12-month-old subjects.…”

“…performance of several memory testing paradigms such as the novel object recognition, the Hebb-Williams and the Morris water mazes both in mice [2][3][4][5][6] and rat models. 7,8 Other studies demonstrate that chronic EtOH is more harmful, inducing greater long-term cognitive impairments when administered in adolescent animals than when this treatment is given in the adulthood.…”

Environmental Enrichment During Adolescence Mitigates Cognitive Deficits and Alcohol Vulnerability due to Continuous and Intermittent Perinatal Alcohol Exposure in Adult Rats

“…Notably, enriched rearing conditions ameliorated the behavioral performance of p-CAD rats in the novel object recognition test, likely remodeling p-CAD rats’ behavioral reactivity, decreasing emotionality and restoring those perceptive and attentive skills that make them able to overcome the cognitive impairment resulting from the perinatal continuous alcohol exposure. Accordingly, previous evidence showed that EE in early adulthood can recover cognitive impairment due to alcohol exposure during adolescence (Rico-Barrio et al, 2019 ). On the other hand, in our experimental conditions, declarative memory performance of p-IAD EE rats was not different from their SE counterparts’ one, suggesting that the abnormalities in declarative memory formation due to the perinatal intermittent exposure to alcohol are not rescued by the EE.…”

Treadmill Exercise Buffers Behavioral Alterations Related to Ethanol Binge-Drinking in Adolescent Mice

“…Owing to this, some preclinical studies have tried to overcome the long-term consequences of alcohol exposure being environmental enrichment (EE) one of the most applied treatments [ 7 , 8 ]. Enriched rodents are typically housed in large groups and exposed to a variety of stimuli that can provide both cognitive stimulation and physical exercise [ 9 ].…”