Environmental enrichment in the absence of wheel running produces beneficial behavioural and anti-oxidative effects in rats

Màrmol, Frederic; Sánchez, Juan Pablo; Torres, Marta N.; Chamizo, Victoria D.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2017.09.009

Cited by 14 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Alternatively, the restricted and unpredictable access to the cage may have potentiated the stimulating effects of EE compensating the 50% of the time they were not in the EE cage. The EE-induced improvements of non-associative learning agree with previous evidence obtained in the OF (Elliott and Grunberg, 2005;Brenes Saénz et al, 2006;Brenes et al, 2009;Brenes et al, 2016;Rojas-Carvajal et al, 2018;Sampedro-Piquero et al, 2018;Mora-Gallegos and Fornaguera, 2019) and with findings of improved performance in episodic and spatial memory tasks (Sampedro-Piquero et al, 2013;Turner and Burne, 2014;Mora-Gallegos et al, 2015;Brenes et al, 2016;Maŕmol et al, 2017). From a cognitive perspective, it is interpreted that the faster the decline of the activity, the faster the processing of novel and threatening stimuli (Kempermann et al, 2002;Hughes and Collins, 2010).…”

Section: Ree Equals the Cee-induced Enhancements In Novelty Habituationsupporting

confidence: 89%

Neurobehavioral Effects of Restricted and Unpredictable Environmental Enrichment in Rats

2020

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To study how motivational factors modulate experience-dependent neurobehavioral plasticity, we modify a protocol of environmental enrichment (EE) in rats. We assumed that the benefits derived from EE might vary according to the level of incentive salience attributed to it. To enhance the rewarding properties of EE, access to the EE cage varied randomly from 2 to 48 h for 30 days (REE). The REE group was enriched only 50% of the time and was compared to standard housing and continuous EE (CEE) groups. As behavioral readout, we analyzed the spontaneous activity and the ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) within the EE cage weekly, and in the open field test at the end of the experiment. In the cage, REE increased the utilization of materials, physical activity, and the rate of appetitive USVs. In the OF, the CEE-induced enhancements in novelty habituation and social signaling were equaled by the REE. At the neural level, we measured the expression of genes related to neural plasticity and epigenetic regulations in different brain regions. In the dorsal striatum and hippocampus, REE upregulated the expression of the brainderived neurotrophic factor, its tropomyosin kinase B receptor, and the DNA methyltransferase 3A. Altogether, our results suggest that the higher activity within the cage and the augmented incentive motivation provoked by the REE boosted its neurobehavioral effects equaling or surpassing those observed in the CEE condition. As constant exposures to treatments or stimulating environments are virtually impossible for humans, restricted EE protocols would have greater translational value than traditional ones.

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Section: Ree Equals the Cee-induced Enhancements In Novelty Habituationsupporting

confidence: 89%

Neurobehavioral Effects of Restricted and Unpredictable Environmental Enrichment in Rats

2020

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“…Findings obtained in the present study are not conclusive with respect to this question, since they do not confirm the previously reported significant effects of housing conditions on animals exposed only to physical activity. These results could be related to those obtained by Mármol et al (2017) showing that, in contrast to data reported in previous research, exposure to EE conditions without physical activity can induce beneficial effects in mice. The lack of concordant outcomes could be related to multiple factors including the heterogeneity of enriched environments employed in different studies (Mesa-Gresa et al, 2016;Aujnarain et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Physical activity and environmental enrichment: Behavioural effects of exposure to different housing conditions in mice

Rabadán¹,

Ramos-Campos²,

Redolat³

et al. 2020

Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis

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Enriched environments and exercise provide complex environmental stimulation that can induce emotional and cognitive changes; however, few studies have evaluated the effects of these two components on other behaviours, such as novelty seeking or pain sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of voluntary physical activity provided through different housing conditions on anxiety, locomotor activity, pain sensitivity, and exploration. Male mice at postnatal day (PND) 21 and were randomly assigned to one of four different conditions on PND 28: Marlau cages (MC), a standardized cage designed to provide a complex environment; physical exercise in large groups (PE-8); physical exercise in small groups (PE-4); or a standard environment (SE). After seven weeks, animals were evaluated in the hole-board task, the elevated zero maze, actimeter, and hot plate test. In the hole-board task, MC animals displayed more exploration than animals in the PE-8 and PE-4 groups, but no significant differences were observed between groups in the actimeter. In the elevated zero maze, MC and PE-8 animals exhibited an anxiogenic-like profile as compared to the SE group. When pain sensitivity was evaluated, the PE-8 group displayed a higher sensitivity to noxious thermal stimuli than the SE group. These data suggest that the complexity of the environment in which physical activity and environmental stimulation are provided can influence animal behaviours such as novelty seeking, emotional response, and pain sensitivity. These animal models could be useful for designing more personalized interventions that include physical, social, and cognitive stimulation to promote a more active lifestyle in humans. Such interventions could be useful in the prevention and treatment of aging-related decline or neurodegenerative diseases.

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“…However, both EGCG-containing green tea extract and EE induce other pharmacological effects and there is no proof that the improvements of some DS phenotypes are the direct result of DYRK1A inhibition. For instance, both EGCG and EE might act as a radical scavenger and exert indirect effects through activation of transcription factors, signaling regulators, and other enzymes (Liu et al, 2017; Marmol et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DYRK1A Overexpression Alters Cognition and Neural-Related Proteomic Pathways in the Hippocampus That Are Rescued by Green Tea Extract and/or Environmental Enrichment

Toma

Ortega

Aloy

et al. 2019

Front. Mol. Neurosci.

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Down syndrome (DS), caused by trisomy of chromosome 21, is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability. We recently discovered that green tea extracts containing epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) improve cognition in mice transgenic for Dyrk1a (TgDyrk1A) and in a trisomic DS mouse model (Ts65Dn). Interestingly, paired with cognitive stimulation, green tea has beneficial pro-cognitive effects in DS individuals. Dual Specificity Tyrosine-Phosphorylation-Regulated Kinase 1A (DYRK1A) is a major candidate to explain the cognitive phenotypes of DS, and inhibiting its activity is a promising pro-cognitive therapy. DYRK1A kinase activity can be normalized in the hippocampus of transgenic DYRK1A mice administering green tea extracts, but also submitting the animals to environmental enrichment (EE). However, many other mechanisms could also explain the pro-cognitive effects of green tea extracts and EE. To underpin the overall alterations arising upon DYRK1A overexpression and the molecular processes underneath the pro-cognitive effects, we used quantitative proteomics. We investigated the hippocampal (phospho)proteome in basal conditions and after treatment with a green tea extract containing EGCG and/or EE in TgDyrk1A and control mice. We found that Dyrk1A overexpression alters protein and phosphoprotein levels of key postsynaptic and plasticity-related pathways and that these alterations were rescued upon the cognitive enhancer treatments.

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Environmental enrichment in the absence of wheel running produces beneficial behavioural and anti-oxidative effects in rats

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Neurobehavioral Effects of Restricted and Unpredictable Environmental Enrichment in Rats

Neurobehavioral Effects of Restricted and Unpredictable Environmental Enrichment in Rats

Physical activity and environmental enrichment: Behavioural effects of exposure to different housing conditions in mice

DYRK1A Overexpression Alters Cognition and Neural-Related Proteomic Pathways in the Hippocampus That Are Rescued by Green Tea Extract and/or Environmental Enrichment

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