Environmental enrichment reverses memory impairment induced by toluene in mice

Environmental enrichment restores impaired spatial memory and synaptic plasticity in prenatally stress exposed rats: The role of GABAergic neurotransmission

“…Also, it is demonstrated that housing animals in an enriched environment decreases basal concentrations of GABA in the hippocampus (Segovia, Yagüe, García‐Verdugo, & Mora, 2006). Montes et al showed that keeping mice under environmental enrichment improves toluene induced memory impairment and decreases GABA content in the hippocampus (Montes, del Carmen Solís‐Guillén, García‐Jácome, & Páez‐Martínez, 2017). These evidences confirm our findings in that the enrichment and the GABAergic circuits differentially impact the cognitive aspects of hippocampal function.…”

Physical exercise and social interaction in complex environments reverse memory deficits induced by inhalants

“…Our lab has previously reported that toluene exposure decreases neurogenesis, induces oxidative stress, and produces neuronal death in the hippocampus, a key brain area involved in memory acquisition and storage. These alterations may be reversed with a Complete EE (Montes et al, 2017;Paez-Martinez et al, 2013), but more research is necessary to understand the mechanisms underlying the benefits of exercise and social interaction on memory. Plausible mechanisms may involve the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which increases in the hippocampus of mice after using running wheels and supports the growth, maintenance, and regeneration of neurons in this region (Varejao˜, Serra, Salles, Arida, & da Silva, 2018).…”

“…Two mice were placed at the bottom of the chamber with 4000 ppm of toluene for 30 min, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. This concentration and pattern of administration was chosen according to previous studies showing typical behavioral alterations, including clear memory impairment, induced by toluene in mice (Montes et al, 2017; Paez-Martinez, Flores-Serrano, Ortiz-Lopez, & Ramirez-Rodriguez, 2013). Toluene concentration was confirmed using a Photoionization Detector (2020ComboPro, Inficon, New York, USA).…”

“…A total of 100 inbred male Swiss Webster mice were used following previous protocols initiated on postnatal day 35 (Montes et al, 2017). All experimental procedures complied with the Official Mexican Standard NOM-062-ZOO-1999 for the use and care of laboratory animals and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Experimentation of the Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatrı´a ''Ramo´n de la Fuente Mun˜iz.…”

“…Toluene-based inhalants abuse is considered a health and social issue (Dell, Gust, & MacLean, 2011), and memory impairments have been described as one of the most disabling effects of this abuse (Filley, Halliday, & Kleinschmidt-De Masters, 2004; Howard, Bowen, Garland, Perron, & Vaughn, 2011). Animal models mimicking inhalant administration indicate that exposure to high concentrations of toluene results in memory deficits, as measured by the object recognition test and inhibitory avoidance task (Huerta-Rivas et al, 2012; Montes, Solís-Guillén, García-Jácome, & Paez-Martinez, 2017). However, few studies have been made on the possible treatments to reverse memory impairment caused by toluene; for example, positive modulator of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors resulted in an attenuation of these memory alterations (Chan, Chung, Stoker, Markou, & Chen, 2012), and recently our group reported a significant recovery of memory recognition after the treatment with environmental enrichment (EE) (Montes et al, 2017).…”