Topic: environmental enrichment

Nucleus Accumbens (Nacb) dopamine (DA) regulates behavioral activation and effort-related decision-making in motivated behaviors. DA depletion has been shown to induce anergia and fatigue in effort-based decision tasks. The Cerebral Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor (CDNF) promotes the survival and function of dopaminergic neurons, and it is used to restore midbrain dopaminergic neurons in animal models of Parkinson’s disease. However, little is known about the role of CDNF in Nacb and if this neurotrophic factor can be affected by factors such as sex or age, behavioral manipulations or drugs that

Environmental enrichment can be defined as external stimulation by the physical or social surroundings. Classical and rapid-acting antidepressants have been shown to bind directly to BDNF receptor TrkB to promote neuronal plasticity. Like antidepressants, environmental enrichment has been shown to promote neuronal plasticity in the brain, although the exact mechanisms of action are unknown. Environmental enrichment could thus potentially act as a complementary or alternative non-pharmacological treatment for neuropsychogical disorders. This study investigated the effect of 10 weeks of environm

Environmental enrichment (EE) is a husbandry procedure known to provide enhanced somatosensory, locomotor and cognitive stimulation. It has been shown to exert significant beneficial effects on cognitive function improving rodent behavior, altering neuronal plasticity, and promoting stress resilience. Concurrently, emerging research highlights the intricate bidirectional communication between the gut microbiome and central nervous system, known as the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Therefore, the aim of this work is to investigate, whether the beneficial effects of EE are linked to alterations in

Environmental enrichment improves hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and memory. However, how enrichment influences hippocampal network activity remains still largely unclear.Using cFos labeling, we showed that exploration of a novel context leads to increased cFos activity in hippocampal principal neurons in mice housed under both standard and enrichment conditions. Remarkably, the number of cFos-expressing cells was lower in enriched mice. Additionally, we recorded Ca2+ responses in CA1 pyramidal cells (PCs) using miniature microscope in mice performing exploration. We observed lower eve

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and a plethora of non-motor manifestations. In particular, the onset of motor symptoms is often preceded by mild cognitive impairment, which can progress to overt dementia. Neuroinflammation has recently emerged as one of the key processes involved in the pathogenesis of PD. Indeed, markers of inflammation were found in the brains of PD mouse models.In the present work, we evaluated the expression of inflammatory markers at 2 and 6 months of age in the striatum and hippocampus of tw

Neuronal plasticity is a fundamental property of the nervous system that allows a change in the response to stimulation by reorganizing its structure, functions and connections. Among the main regulators of neuronal plasticity are perineuronal nets (PNNs), condensed forms of extracellular matrix (ECM) that enwrap mainly parvalbumin expressing (PV+) inhibitory interneurons. Glycoprotein tenascin-C (TnC) is one of the ECM molecules that interacts with components of PNNs and that modulates the synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. The aim of this study was to investigate whether TnC deficiency

Ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, is often associated with mental health disorders exacerbated by chronic stress. Environmental enrichment has been shown to alleviate stress and inflammation in mice, therefore we hypothesized that it may mitigate the adverse behavioral and neurobiological outcomes associated with experimental colitis. To study this, male and female mice were kept in 2 different housing conditions, conventional small cages (SE) or an enriched environment (EE), for 8 weeks. Subgroups were treated with dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) to induce experimental c

Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying memory formation and retrieval is fundamental to unraveling the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Inhibitory interneurons have fundamental roles in shaping neural circuits and synaptic plasticity within the hippocampus, a brain region critical for memory encoding and consolidation. However, the specific contribution of inhibitory interneurons to the formation and maintenance of engrams, the neural representations of memories, remains poorly understood, particularly in the context of AD.To determine neurons participating in the engram fo

Neurofilaments, neuron-specific cytoskeletal proteins, are heteropolymers composed of four subunits: NFL, NFM, NFH, and αINTX. The synaptic population (SNFs) differs from the axonal subgroup and subserves unique functions, such as the maintenance of synaptic integrity and the modulation of neurotransmission. During aging, synapses undergo several modifications, contributing to the worsening of cognitive performances and the so-called age-related memory impairment. Despite that, nothing is known about "senescent" SNFs. Our research aimed to study the age-related expression pattern of SNFs subun