Neuroleptics and enrichment environment treatment in memory disorders and other central nervous system function observed in prenatally stressed rats

Abstract

<jats:p> It is believed that the most effective method of treatment in schizophrenia is pharmacotherapy, in particular, the use of atypical neuroleptics like aripiprazole (ARI) and olanzapine (OLA). Moreover, studies of many authors have shown that enriched living conditions and tobacco smoke exposure can also affect the cognitive functions that are disturbed in the course of schizophrenia. The aim of the study was to find whether tobacco smoke and enrichment living conditions have the influence on cognitive functions in the newborn offspring of prenatally stressed rats and whether drugs such as ARI (1.5 mg/kg intraperitoneally (i.p.)) and OLA (0.5 mg/kg ip) in single and chronic treatment modify those functions (Morris water maze). The study (in the same conditions) also analyses immobility time (Porsolt test) and motor activity of animals that received ARI and OLA. It has been shown that ARI and OLA as well as enriched environment reduce cognitive function disorders and modify cognitive functions in rats exposed to tobacco smoke. In turn, current research has shown that nicotine has increased cognitive function disorders compared to the previous study (animals without tobacco smoke exposure). </jats:p>

The mechanism of enriched environment repairing the learning and memory impairment in offspring of prenatal stress by regulating the expression of activity-regulated cytoskeletal-associated and insulin-like growth factor-2 in hippocampus

“…Therefore, if we can choose a kind of environmental stimulation in early life, it may greatly improve ability of learning and memory of offspring which are impaired due to prenatal stress. An enriched environment (EE) is considered as a combination of intricate physical movements and social stimulation [22,23], which is a large space equipped with the animal experiences exploration and introduction to an array of objects, including appearance, volume, body weight, odor and texture, renders stimulation of the visual, somatosensory, and olfactory systems. It involves that the experimental animals can selectively enter into the animal's home cage or secondary exploratory which provide physical exercise, exploration, cognition, and social interaction.…”

Behavioral effects of environmental enrichment on male and female wistar rats with early life stress experiences

“…As previously mentioned, the prenatal stress protocol used here is can be considered as a “ mild ” protocol when compared to other protocols, which can be considered as “ severe ”, including prenatal exposure to drugs, nicotine or ethanol, induction of diabetes, for example ( Parks et al, 2008 ; Schroeder et al, 2013 ; Galea et al, 2014 ; Ratajczak et al, 2014 ; An and Zhang, 2015 ). For this reason, it can be proposed that its effect on anxiety is not very strong - hence leading to non-significant differences when comparing stressed vs non-stressed groups - but sufficiently pronounced to show significant differences when comparing to the group of females in the same conditions.…”

The effects and mechanism of environmental enrichment on MK-801 induced cognitive impairment in rodents with schizophrenia

“…Neurons are the main component of the nervous system and a core carrier to exert neuroregulatory function. EE regulates a variety of neurons, increases neuronal plasticity, and promotes neuronal development, to improve the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia (Ratajczak et al, 2015 ). MK-801 affects cortical function by reducing the activity of inhibitory interneurons, thereby affecting cognitive function.…”