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Olivares-Costa M, Fabio MC, De la Fuente-Ortega E, Haeger PA, Pautassi R. New therapeutics for the prevention or amelioration of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: a narrative review of the preclinical literature. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE 2024:1-22. [PMID: 39023419 DOI: 10.1080/00952990.2024.2361442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Background: Ethanol consumption during pregnancy induces enduring detrimental effects in the offspring, manifesting as a spectrum of symptoms collectively termed as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Presently, there is a scarcity of treatments for FASD.Objectives: To analyze current literature, emphasizing evidence derived from preclinical models, that could potentially inform therapeutic interventions for FASD.Methods: A narrative review was conducted focusing on four prospective treatments: nutritional supplements, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds and environmental enrichment. The review also highlights innovative therapeutic strategies applied during early (e.g. folate administration, postnatal days 4-9) or late (e.g. NOX2 inhibitors given after weaning) postnatal stages that resulted in significant improvements in behavioral responses during adolescence (a critical period marked by the emergence of mental health issues in humans).Results: Our findings underscore the value of treatments centered around nutritional supplementation or environmental enrichment, aimed at mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation, implying shared mechanisms in FASD pathogenesis. Moreover, the review spotlights emerging evidence pertaining to the involvement of novel molecular components with potential pharmacological targets (such as NOX2, MCP1/CCR2, PPARJ, and PDE1).Conclusions: Preclinical studies have identified oxidative imbalance and neuroinflammation as relevant pathological mechanisms induced by prenatal ethanol exposure. The relevance of these mechanisms, which exhibit positive feedback loop mechanisms, appear to peak during early development and decreases in adulthood. These findings provide a framework for the future development of therapeutic avenues in the development of specific clinical treatments for FASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Montserrat Olivares-Costa
- Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile
| | - María Carolina Fabio
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Coquimbo, Chile
| | - Erwin De la Fuente-Ortega
- Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile
| | - Paola A Haeger
- Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile
- Millennium Nucleus of Neuroepigenetics and Plasticity (EpiNeuro), Santiago, Chile
| | - Ricardo Pautassi
- Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Coquimbo, Chile
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2
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Popović N, Baño-Otalora B, Rol MÁ, Venero C, Madrid JA, Popović M. Effects of long-term individual housing of middle-aged female Octodon degus on spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze task. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1221090. [PMID: 37600762 PMCID: PMC10435294 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1221090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Prolonged social isolation is a form of passive chronic stress that has consequences on human and animal behavior. The present study was undertaken to elucidate whether the long-term isolation would precipitate age-related changes in anxiety and spatial learning and memory in degus. Methods We investigated the effects of long-term social isolation on anxiety levels in the light-dark test, and spatial orientation abilities in the Barnes maze. Middle-aged female Octodon degus were allocated to either group-housed (3 animals per cage) or individually-housed for 5 months. Results Under this experimental condition, there were no significant group differences in the anxiety level tested in the light-dark test and in the motivation to escape from the Barnes maze. There were no significant differences in cortisol levels between individually- and group-housed animals. On the last acquisition training day of spatial learning, individually- housed animals had a significantly higher number of correct responses and a smaller number of reference and working memory errors than the group-housed animals. In addition, isolated animals showed a tendency for reference and working memory impairment on the retention trial, while group-housed degus showed improvement in these parameters. Discussion and conclusion The present study indicates that prolonged social isolation during adulthood in female degus has a dual effect on spatial orientation. Specifically, it results in a significant improvement in acquisition skills but a slight impairment in memory retention. The obtained cognitive changes were not accompanied by modification in anxiety and cortisol levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalija Popović
- Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
- Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia, Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Beatriz Baño-Otalora
- Chronobiology Lab, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, Mare Nostrum Campus, Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Envejecimiento, Murcia, Spain
| | - María Ángeles Rol
- Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia, Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
- Chronobiology Lab, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, Mare Nostrum Campus, Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Envejecimiento, Murcia, Spain
- Ciber Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable, Madrid, Spain
| | - César Venero
- Department of Psychobiology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Mixto de Investigación–Escuela Nacional de Sanidad, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Antonio Madrid
- Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia, Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
- Chronobiology Lab, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, Mare Nostrum Campus, Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Envejecimiento, Murcia, Spain
- Ciber Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable, Madrid, Spain
| | - Miroljub Popović
- Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
- Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia, Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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3
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Mieske P, Hobbiesiefken U, Fischer-Tenhagen C, Heinl C, Hohlbaum K, Kahnau P, Meier J, Wilzopolski J, Butzke D, Rudeck J, Lewejohann L, Diederich K. Bored at home?—A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:899219. [PMID: 36061113 PMCID: PMC9435384 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.899219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Boredom is an emotional state that occurs when an individual has nothing to do, is not interested in the surrounding, and feels dreary and in a monotony. While this condition is usually defined for humans, it may very well describe the lives of many laboratory animals housed in small, barren cages. To make the cages less monotonous, environmental enrichment is often proposed. Although housing in a stimulating environment is still used predominantly as a luxury good and for treatment in preclinical research, enrichment is increasingly recognized to improve animal welfare. To gain insight into how stimulating environments influence the welfare of laboratory rodents, we conducted a systematic review of studies that analyzed the effect of enriched environment on behavioral parameters of animal well–being. Remarkably, a considerable number of these parameters can be associated with symptoms of boredom. Our findings show that a stimulating living environment is essential for the development of natural behavior and animal welfare of laboratory rats and mice alike, regardless of age and sex. Conversely, confinement and under-stimulation has potentially detrimental effects on the mental and physical health of laboratory rodents. We show that boredom in experimental animals is measurable and does not have to be accepted as inevitable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Mieske
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Ute Hobbiesiefken
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Carola Fischer-Tenhagen
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Céline Heinl
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Katharina Hohlbaum
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Pia Kahnau
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Jennifer Meier
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Jenny Wilzopolski
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Daniel Butzke
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Juliane Rudeck
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
| | - Lars Lewejohann
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior and Laboratory Animal Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kai Diederich
- German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
- *Correspondence: Kai Diederich
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4
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Abstract
Social interactions can bolster and protect memory performance. However, the relationship between social stimuli and individually learned memories remains enigmatic. Our work reveals that exposure to a stressed, naïve nonfamiliar conspecific or to the ambient olfactory–auditory cues of a recently stressed familiar conspecific induces reactivation of the cellular ensembles associated with a fear memory in the hippocampus. Artificially stimulating the hippocampal ensemble active during the social experience induces fearful behaviors in animals that have previously acquired a negative memory, revealing the interaction between individual history and social experience. The neural resurgence of fear-driving ensembles during social experiences leads to a context-specific enhancement of fear recall. Our findings provide evidence that unlike direct stressors, social stimuli reactivate and amplify an individual’s memories. For group-living animals, the social environment provides salient experience that can weaken or strengthen aspects of cognition such as memory recall. Although the cellular substrates of individually acquired fear memories in the dentate gyrus (DG) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) have been well-studied and recent work has revealed circuit mechanisms underlying the encoding of social experience, the processes by which social experience interacts with an individual’s memories to alter recall remain unknown. Here we show that stressful social experiences enhance the recall of previously acquired fear memories in male but not female mice, and that social buffering of conspecifics’ distress blocks this enhancement. Activity-dependent tagging of cells in the DG during fear learning revealed that these ensembles were endogenously reactivated during the social experiences in males, even after extinction. These reactivated cells were shown to be functional components of engrams, as optogenetic stimulation of the cells active during the social experience in previously fear-conditioned and not naïve animals was sufficient to drive fear-related behaviors. Taken together, our findings suggest that social experiences can reactivate preexisting engrams to thereby strengthen discrete memories.
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5
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Zamani A, Ryan NP, Wright DK, Caeyenberghs K, Semple BD. The Impact of Traumatic Injury to the Immature Human Brain: A Scoping Review with Insights from Advanced Structural Neuroimaging. J Neurotrauma 2021; 37:724-738. [PMID: 32037951 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2019.6895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) during critical periods of early-life brain development can affect the normal formation of brain networks responsible for a range of complex social behaviors. Because of the protracted nature of brain and behavioral development, deficits in cognitive and socioaffective behaviors may not become evident until late adolescence and early adulthood, when such skills are expected to reach maturity. In addition, multiple pre- and post-injury factors can interact with the effects of early brain insult to influence long-term outcomes. In recent years, with advancements in magnetic-resonance-based neuroimaging techniques and analysis, studies of the pediatric population have revealed a link between neurobehavioral deficits, such as social dysfunction, with white matter damage. In this review, in which we focus on contributions from Australian researchers to the field, we have highlighted pioneering longitudinal studies in pediatric TBI, in relation to social deficits specifically. We also discuss the use of advanced neuroimaging and novel behavioral assays in animal models of TBI in the immature brain. Together, this research aims to understand the relationship between injury consequences and ongoing brain development after pediatric TBI, which promises to improve prediction of the behavioral deficits that emerge in the years subsequent to early-life injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akram Zamani
- Department of Neuroscience, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nicholas P Ryan
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Brain & Mind Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - David K Wright
- Department of Neuroscience, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Karen Caeyenberghs
- Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Bridgette D Semple
- Department of Neuroscience, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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6
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Zhuang ZQ, Zhang ZZ, Zhang YM, Ge HH, Sun SY, Zhang P, Chen GH. A Long-Term Enriched Environment Ameliorates the Accelerated Age-Related Memory Impairment Induced by Gestational Administration of Lipopolysaccharide: Role of Plastic Mitochondrial Quality Control. Front Cell Neurosci 2021; 14:559182. [PMID: 33613195 PMCID: PMC7886998 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2020.559182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies have shown that gestational inflammation accelerates age-related memory impairment in mother mice. An enriched environment (EE) can improve age-related memory impairment, whereas mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of brain aging. However, it is unclear whether an EE can counteract the accelerated age-related memory impairment induced by gestational inflammation and whether this process is associated with the disruption of mitochondrial quality control (MQC) processes. In this study, CD-1 mice received daily intraperitoneal injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 50 μg/kg) or normal saline (CON group) during gestational days 15–17 and were separated from their offspring at the end of normal lactation. The mothers that received LPS were divided into LPS group and LPS plus EE (LPS-E) treatment groups based on whether the mice were exposed to an EE until the end of the experiment. At 6 and 18 months of age, the Morris water maze test was used to evaluate spatial learning and memory abilities. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to measure the messenber RNA (mRNA) and protein levels of MQC-related genes in the hippocampus, respectively. The results showed that all the aged (18 months old) mice underwent a striking decline in spatial learning and memory performances and decreased mRNA/protein levels related to mitochondrial dynamics (Mfn1/Mfn2, OPA1, and Drp1), biogenesis (PGC-1α), and mitophagy (PINK1/parkin) in the hippocampi compared with the young (6 months old) mice. LPS treatment exacerbated the decline in age-related spatial learning and memory and enhanced the reduction in the mRNA and protein levels of MQC-related genes but increased the levels of PGC-1α in young mice. Exposure to an EE could alleviate the accelerated decline in age-related spatial learning and memory abilities and the accelerated changes in MQC-related mRNA or protein levels resulting from LPS treatment, especially in aged mice. In conclusion, long-term exposure to an EE can counteract the accelerated age-related spatial cognition impairment modulated by MQC in CD-1 mother mice that experience inflammation during pregnancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhan-Qiang Zhuang
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Zhe-Zhe Zhang
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Yue-Ming Zhang
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - He-Hua Ge
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Shi-Yu Sun
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Ping Zhang
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
| | - Gui-Hai Chen
- Department of Neurology (Sleep Disorders), The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.,Institute of Sleep Medicine of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China
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7
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Mesa-Gresa P, Ramos-Campos M, Redolat R. Behavioral impact of experience based on environmental enrichment: Influence of age and duration of exposure in male NMRI mice. Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:1071-1081. [PMID: 33452673 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 12/26/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Prior studies have suggested that short periods of exposure to environmental enrichment (EE) in rodents induce physiological and behavioral effects. In the present study, our aim was to evaluate if the impact of experiences based on EE could be modulated by the age of onset and the developmental period of exposure. NMRI male mice (n = 64) were exposed to EE or standard environment (SE) and behavioral changes (anxiety, exploration, memory and social interaction) were evaluated. Groups compared were: (a) SE: exposure to SE on post-natal day (PND) 28 and lasting 6 months; (b) EE-6: exposure to EE on PND 28 and lasting 6 months; (c) EE-4: exposure to EE on PND 91 and lasting 4 months; (d) EE-2: exposure to EE on PND 154 and lasting 2 months. Results indicated that in the hole-board task the decrease in exploratory behavior reached significance when EE was initiated at adolescence whereas anxiolytic effects in the elevated plus-maze tend to diminish after a longer period of EE. No significant effects of EE on aggressive behavior or novel object recognition were obtained. Taking these results into account, further studies are needed in order to determine the possible modulating role of age and duration of exposure to enriched environments on behavior. Results obtained could explain some discrepancies reported in previous studies, providing new evidence that could contribute to the design of future research related to the benefits of complex and enriched environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Mesa-Gresa
- Departamento Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - Marta Ramos-Campos
- Departamento Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - Rosa Redolat
- Departamento Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain
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8
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Pritchett-Corning KR. Environmental Complexity and Research Outcomes. ILAR J 2020; 60:239-251. [PMID: 32559304 DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilaa007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2019] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental complexity is an experimental paradigm as well as a potential part of animals' everyday housing experiences. In experimental uses, researchers add complexity to stimulate brain development, delay degenerative brain changes, elicit more naturalistic behaviors, and test learning and memory. Complexity can exacerbate or mitigate behavioral problems, give animals a sense of control, and allow for expression of highly driven, species-typical behaviors that can improve animal welfare. Complex environments should be designed thoughtfully with the animal's natural behaviors in mind, reported faithfully in the literature, and evaluated carefully for unexpected effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen R Pritchett-Corning
- Office of Animal Resources, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.,Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
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9
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Farokhi-Sisakht F, Farhoudi M, Sadigh-Eteghad S, Mahmoudi J, Mohaddes G. Cognitive Rehabilitation Improves Ischemic Stroke-Induced Cognitive Impairment: Role of Growth Factors. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 2019; 28:104299. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2019.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Revised: 06/24/2019] [Accepted: 07/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
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10
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Moreno-Jiménez EP, Jurado-Arjona J, Ávila J, Llorens-Martín M. The Social Component of Environmental Enrichment Is a Pro-neurogenic Stimulus in Adult c57BL6 Female Mice. Front Cell Dev Biol 2019; 7:62. [PMID: 31080799 PMCID: PMC6497743 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2019.00062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In rodents, the hippocampal dentate gyrus gives rise to newly generated dentate granule cells (DGCs) throughout life. This process, named adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN), converges in the functional integration of mature DGCs into the trisynaptic hippocampal circuit. Environmental enrichment (EE) is one of the most potent positive regulators of AHN. This paradigm includes the combination of three major stimulatory components, namely increased physical activity, constant cognitive stimulation, and higher social interaction. In this regard, the pro-neurogenic effects of physical activity and cognitive stimulation have been widely addressed in adult rodents. However, the pro-neurogenic potential of the social aspect of EE has been less explored to date. Here we tackled this question by specifically focusing on the effects of a prolonged period of social enrichment (SE) in adult female C57BL6 mice. To this end, 7-week-old mice were housed in groups of 12 per cage for 8 weeks. These mice were compared with others housed under control housing (2–3 mice per cage) or EE (12 mice per cage plus running wheels and toys) conditions during the same period. We analyzed the number and morphology of Doublecortin-expressing (DCX+) cells. Moreover, using RGB retroviruses that allowed the labeling of three populations of newborn DGCs of different ages in the same mouse, we performed morphometric, immunohistochemical, and behavioral determinations. Both SE and EE increased the number and maturation of DCX+ cells, and caused an increase in dendritic maturation in certain populations of newborn DGCs. Moreover, both manipulations increased exploratory behavior in the Social Interaction test. Unexpectedly, our data revealed the potent neurogenesis-stimulating potential of SE in the absence of any further cognitive stimulation or increase in physical activity. Given that an increase in physical activity is strongly discouraged under certain circumstances, our findings may be relevant in the context of enhancing AHN via physical activity-independent mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena P Moreno-Jiménez
- Department of Molecular Neuropathology, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CBMSO, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Networked Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
| | - Jerónimo Jurado-Arjona
- Department of Molecular Neuropathology, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CBMSO, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jesús Ávila
- Department of Molecular Neuropathology, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CBMSO, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Networked Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
| | - María Llorens-Martín
- Department of Molecular Neuropathology, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CBMSO, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Networked Biomedical Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
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11
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Environmental enrichment alleviates cognitive and behavioral impairments in EL mice. Epilepsy Behav 2018; 85:227-233. [PMID: 30032812 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Revised: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Epilepsy in children is occasionally associated with comorbidities, such as cognitive impairment, behavioral disturbances, and social deficits. These neurobehavioral comorbidities are closely related to environmental factors and the severity of the seizures. Previous studies show that environmental enrichment has a beneficial effect in animal models of temporal lobe epilepsy following systemic chemoconvulsant administration. However, the effect of environmental enrichment on behavioral impairments in the EL mouse, a genetic model of human idiopathic epilepsy, remains unknown. In the present study, we examined the effect of environmental enrichment on cognitive and behavioral impairments in this murine model. The EL mice, under standard laboratory conditions, exhibited impairments in spatial memory in the Morris water maze test, hyperactivity and impaired habituation in the open-field test, and a deficit in social novelty preference in the three-chamber social approach test, compared with control DDY mice, a genetically related nonepileptic strain. These impairments in EL mice were ameliorated by exposure to an enriched environment. These findings suggest that environmental enrichment effectively ameliorates cognitive and behavioral deficits in EL mice.
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12
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Zhao LR, Willing A. Enhancing endogenous capacity to repair a stroke-damaged brain: An evolving field for stroke research. Prog Neurobiol 2018; 163-164:5-26. [PMID: 29476785 PMCID: PMC6075953 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2018.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2017] [Revised: 01/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/30/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Stroke represents a severe medical condition that causes stroke survivors to suffer from long-term and even lifelong disability. Over the past several decades, a vast majority of stroke research targets neuroprotection in the acute phase, while little work has been done to enhance stroke recovery at the later stage. Through reviewing current understanding of brain plasticity, stroke pathology, and emerging preclinical and clinical restorative approaches, this review aims to provide new insights to advance the research field for stroke recovery. Lifelong brain plasticity offers the long-lasting possibility to repair a stroke-damaged brain. Stroke impairs the structural and functional integrity of entire brain networks; the restorative approaches containing multi-components have great potential to maximize stroke recovery by rebuilding and normalizing the stroke-disrupted entire brain networks and brain functioning. The restorative window for stroke recovery is much longer than previously thought. The optimal time for brain repair appears to be at later stage of stroke rather than the earlier stage. It is expected that these new insights will advance our understanding of stroke recovery and assist in developing the next generation of restorative approaches for enhancing brain repair after stroke.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li-Ru Zhao
- Department of Neurosurgery, State University of New York, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.
| | - Alison Willing
- Center for Excellence in Aging and Brain Repair, Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA.
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Abstract
Turns out I have been a major contributor to the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease over its 20-year history. As such, I was invited to provide a review of my work over the years. What follows is a retrospective of how the Alzheimer-related research of a Ph.D. (i.e., not an M.D.) transitioned from basic to clinical, and moved from bench to bedside and back again.I have included some of the more humorous and poignant twists along the way that some older players may find familiar and I hope might inspire some younger players to hang in there.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas B. Shea
- Laboratory for Neuroscience, Department of Biological Sciences, UMass Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA
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14
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Zhang S, Xie H, Wang Y, Li D, Du L, Wu Y, Yang GY. Enriched environment improves behavioral performance and attenuates inflammatory response induced by TNF-α in healthy adult mice. EUR J INFLAMM 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/1721727x17730471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Several studies have demonstrated the neuroprotective effect of enriched environment (EE) and its positive effect on cognitive performance in pathological conditions, such as neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury. However, the immunomodulatory effect of EE in normal rodents is not well characterized. To assess the immunomodulatory effect of EE, we randomly assigned normal mice to EE housing or standard environmental (SE) housing for 3 weeks. Behavioral alterations were evaluated by open field, fear conditioning, and Morris water maze tests. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to assess the expression of behavioral-related proteins, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) was also performed. We also measured the levels of RIP1 and RIP3 proteins using western blotting. EE significantly improved the cognitive performance which was associated with the increased expressions of BDNF, ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP); EE did not influence any morphological changes in the brain tissue in adult mice; however, increased resistance to inflammation induced by TNF-α was observed. These findings indicate that EE can positively influence cognitive and behavioral performance in healthy adult mice by exerting environ-immuno effect on neural function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shehong Zhang
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hongyu Xie
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuyang Wang
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dake Li
- Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Liang Du
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yi Wu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guo-Yuan Yang
- Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Center, Med-X Research Institute and School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
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15
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Fisher M, Herman A, Stephens DB, Vinogradov S. Neuroscience-informed computer-assisted cognitive training in schizophrenia. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2017; 1366:90-114. [PMID: 27111135 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2014] [Revised: 01/29/2016] [Accepted: 02/16/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric syndrome characterized by psychosis. It is also a neurodevelopmental disorder. In the earliest phases of the illness, at-risk individuals exhibit subtle, nonspecific symptoms, including cognitive dysfunction and progressive brain volumetric loss. Generally, schizophrenia is characterized by abnormal/inefficient neural system operations and neural oscillatory activity, as well as functional disconnectivity across frontal-temporo parietal and frontal-subcortical networks; it thus may best be described as a widespread neural oscillatory connectomopathy. Despite earlier views of schizophrenia as an inevitably progressive neurodegenerative disease, emerging evidence indicates that endogenous neuroplastic capacity is retained. An active area of research is directed at understanding how best to harness this learning-induced neuroplasticity to enhance neural system functioning, improve cognition, and prevent-and possibly even reverse-disease progression. In this review, we present an overview of results from the most widely used computer-assisted cognitive-training programs in schizophrenia, contrasting a broad neuropsychological rehabilitation approach with a targeted cognitive-training approach. We then review studies on the neurobiological effects of these two training methods. Finally, we discuss future directions with a focus on the "oscillatory connectome" as a key area of investigation for developing the most precise and scientifically informed treatment approaches for this illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Fisher
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California
| | - Alexander Herman
- School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | | | - Sophia Vinogradov
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California
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16
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Zhou Z, Liu T, Sun X, Mu X, Zhu G, Xiao T, Zhao M, Zhao C. CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100 reverses the neurogenesis promoted by enriched environment and suppresses long-term seizure activity in adult rats of temporal lobe epilepsy. Behav Brain Res 2017; 322:83-91. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2016] [Revised: 01/02/2017] [Accepted: 01/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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17
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Park JM, Seong HH, Jin HB, Kim YJ. The Effect of Long-Term Environmental Enrichment in Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion-Induced Memory Impairment in Rats. Biol Res Nurs 2016; 19:278-286. [PMID: 28032515 DOI: 10.1177/1099800416686179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common cause of dementia. It occurs when the cerebral blood supply is reduced by disarrangement of the circulatory system. Environmental enrichment (EE) has been associated with cognitive improvement, motor function recovery, and anxiety relief with respect to various neurodegenerative diseases and emotional stress models. The purpose of this study was to determine whether long-term EE influenced cognitive impairment in a rat model of chronic hypoperfusion induced by permanent occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries (BCCAo). The Y-maze and Morris water maze tests were performed to evaluate the rats' cognitive functions. Also, the protein expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), phosphorylated cAMP-calcium response element binding protein (pCREB), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were confirmed by Western blot. The microvessels and angiogenesis-associated proteins in the hippocampal region were investigated using immunohistochemistry. The VaD + EE group showed significantly better cognitive functions than the VaD group in both the Y-maze and MWM tests. In addition, the VaD + EE group showed significantly increased expression of BDNF, pCREB, and VEGF in the hippocampus compared to the VaD group. Rats in the VaD + EE group also had increased length of microvessels and VEGF expression in the hippocampus. These results suggest that long-term EE exerts neuroprotective effects against cognitive impairment induced by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion through the enhancement of BDNF, pCREB, and VEGF expression and indicate that EE may be a good nursing intervention in vascular dementia patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jong-Min Park
- 1 Department of Nursing, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea
| | | | | | - Youn-Jung Kim
- 4 East West Nursing Institute, College of Nursing Science, Kyung Hee University, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea
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18
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Remmes J, Bodden C, Richter SH, Lesting J, Sachser N, Pape HC, Seidenbecher T. Impact of Life History on Fear Memory and Extinction. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:185. [PMID: 27757077 PMCID: PMC5047906 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2016] [Accepted: 09/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral profiles are strongly shaped by an individual's whole life experience. The accumulation of negative experiences over lifetime is thought to promote anxiety-like behavior in adulthood (“allostatic load hypothesis”). In contrast, the “mismatch hypothesis” of psychiatric disease suggests that high levels of anxiety-like behavior are the result of a discrepancy between early and late environment. The aim of the present study was to investigate how different life histories shape the expression of anxiety-like behavior and modulate fear memory. In addition, we aimed to clarify which of the two hypotheses can better explain the modulation of anxiety and fear. For this purpose, male mice grew up under either adverse or beneficial conditions during early phase of life. In adulthood they were further subdivided in groups that either matched or mismatched the condition experienced before, resulting in four different life histories. The main results were: (i) Early life benefit followed by late life adversity caused decreased levels of anxiety-like behavior. (ii) Accumulation of adversity throughout life history led to impaired fear extinction learning. Late life adversity as compared to late life benefit mainly affected extinction training, while early life adversity as compared to early life benefit interfered with extinction recall. Concerning anxiety-like behavior, the results do neither support the allostatic load nor the mismatch hypothesis, but rather indicate an anxiolytic effect of a mismatched early beneficial and later adverse life history. In contrast, fear memory was strongly affected by the accumulation of adverse experiences over the lifetime, therefore supporting allostatic load hypothesis. In summary, this study highlights that anxiety-like behavior and fear memory are differently affected by specific combinations of adverse or beneficial events experienced throughout life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasmin Remmes
- Institute of Physiology I, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany
| | - Carina Bodden
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany; Department of Behavioural Biology, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster, Germany
| | - Jörg Lesting
- Institute of Physiology I, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany
| | - Norbert Sachser
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany; Department of Behavioural Biology, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany
| | - Hans-Christian Pape
- Institute of Physiology I, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany
| | - Thomas Seidenbecher
- Institute of Physiology I, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Westfälische Wilhelms-UniversityMünster, Germany
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19
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Rattazzi L, Piras G, Brod S, Smith K, Ono M, D'Acquisto F. Impact of Enriched Environment on Murine T Cell Differentiation and Gene Expression Profile. Front Immunol 2016; 7:381. [PMID: 27746779 PMCID: PMC5042968 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2016.00381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
T cells are known to be plastic and to change their phenotype according to the cellular and biochemical milieu they are embedded in. In this study, we transposed this concept at a macroscopic level assessing whether changes in the environmental housing conditions of C57/BL6 mice would influence the phenotype and function of T cells. Our study shows that exposure to 2 weeks in an enriched environment (EE) does not impact the T cell repertoire in vivo and causes no changes in the early TCR-driven activation events of these cells. Surprisingly, however, T cells from enriched mice showed a unique T helper effector cell phenotype upon differentiation in vitro. This was featured by a significant reduction in their ability to produce IFN-γ and by an increased release of IL-10 and IL-17. Microarray analysis of these cells also revealed a unique gene fingerprint with key signaling pathways involved in autoimmunity being modulated. Together, our results provide first evidence for a specific effect of EE on T cell differentiation and its associated changes in gene expression profile. In addition, our study sheds new light on the possible mechanisms by which changes in environmental factors can significantly influence the immune response of the host and favor the resolution of the inflammatory response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenza Rattazzi
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
| | - Giuseppa Piras
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
| | - Samuel Brod
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
| | - Koval Smith
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
| | - Masahiro Ono
- Department of Life Science, Faculty of Natural Science, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine , London , UK
| | - Fulvio D'Acquisto
- William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London , London , UK
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20
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Early Social Enrichment Improves Social Motivation and Skills in a Monogenic Mouse Model of Autism, the Oprm1 (-/-) Mouse. Neural Plast 2016; 2016:5346161. [PMID: 27274875 PMCID: PMC4870371 DOI: 10.1155/2016/5346161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2016] [Revised: 03/11/2016] [Accepted: 04/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental enrichment has been proven to have positive effects on both behavioral and physiological phenotypes in rodent models of mental and neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, we used mice lacking the µ-opioid receptor gene (Oprm1−/−), which has been shown to have deficits in social competence and communication, to assess the hypothesis that early enrichment can ameliorate sociability during development and adulthood. Due to the immaturity of sensory-motor capabilities of young pups, we chose as environmental stimulation a second lactating female, who provided extra maternal care and stimulation from birth. The results show that double mothering normalized the abnormal response to maternal separation in Oprm1−/− pups and increased social motivation in juveniles and adult knockout mice. Additionally, we observed that Oprm1−/− mice act as less attractive social partners than wild types, which suggests that social motivation can be modulated by the stimulus employed. This experiment supports previous findings suggesting that early social environmental stimulation has profound and long-term beneficial effects, encouraging the use of nonpharmacological interventions for the treatment of social defects in neurodevelopmental diseases.
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21
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Bardi M, Kaufman C, Franssen C, Hyer MM, Rzucidlo A, Brown M, Tschirhart M, Lambert KG. Paper or Plastic? Exploring the Effects of Natural Enrichment on Behavioural and Neuroendocrine Responses in Long-Evans Rats. J Neuroendocrinol 2016; 28. [PMID: 26970429 DOI: 10.1111/jne.12383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2015] [Revised: 02/10/2016] [Accepted: 03/08/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Enriched environments are beneficial to neurobiological development; specifically, rodents exposed to complex, rather than standard laboratory, environments exhibit evidence of neuroplasticity and enhanced cognitive performance. In the present study, the nature of elements placed in the complex environment was investigated. Accordingly, rats (n = 8 per group) were housed either in a natural environment characterised by stimuli such as dirt and rocks, an artificial environment characterised by plastic toys and synthetic nesting materials, a natural/artificial environment characterised by a combination of artificial and natural stimuli or a laboratory standard environment characterised by no enrichment stimuli. Following exposure to emotional and cognitive behavioural tasks, including a cricket hunting task, a novel object preference task and a forced swim task, brains were processed for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-, neuronal nuclei (NeuN)- and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) immunoreactivity. Baseline and stress foecal samples were collected to assess corticosterone (CORT) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Natural environment animals exhibited shorter diving latencies and increased diving frequencies in the second forced swimming task, along with higher DHEA/CORT ratios, and higher GFAP immunoreactivity in the hippocampus. The type of environmental enrichment did not influence levels of BDNF immunoreactivity in the CA1, CA3 and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus; however, natural environment animals exhibited higher levels of NeuN immunoreactivity in the retrosplenial cortex, an area involved in spatial memory and other cognitive functions. These results suggest that, in addition to enhancing behavioural and endocrinological variables associated with resilience, exposure to natural stimuli might alter plasticity in brain areas associated with cortical processing and learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Bardi
- Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA, USA
| | - C Kaufman
- Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA, USA
| | | | - M M Hyer
- Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA, USA
| | - A Rzucidlo
- Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA, USA
| | - M Brown
- Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA, USA
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22
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Ryan NP, Catroppa C, Godfrey C, Noble-Haeusslein LJ, Shultz SR, O'Brien TJ, Anderson V, Semple BD. Social dysfunction after pediatric traumatic brain injury: A translational perspective. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016; 64:196-214. [PMID: 26949224 PMCID: PMC5627971 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.02.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2016] [Revised: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 02/24/2016] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Social dysfunction is common after traumatic brain injury (TBI), contributing to reduced quality of life for survivors. Factors which influence the development or persistence of social deficits after injury remain poorly understood, particularly in the context of ongoing brain maturation during childhood and adolescence. Aberrant social interactions have recently been modeled in adult and juvenile rodents after experimental TBI, providing an opportunity to gain new insights into the underlying neurobiology of these behaviors. Here, we review our current understanding of social dysfunction in both humans and rodent models of TBI, with a focus on brain injuries acquired during early development. Modulators of social outcomes are discussed, including injury-related and environmental risk and resilience factors. Disruption of social brain network connectivity and aberrant neuroendocrine function are identified as potential mechanisms of social impairments after pediatric TBI. Throughout, we highlight the overlap and disparities between outcome measures and findings from clinical and experimental approaches, and explore the translational potential of future research to prevent or ameliorate social dysfunction after childhood TBI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas P Ryan
- Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychological Studies, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - Cathy Catroppa
- Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychological Studies, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Department of Psychology, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - Celia Godfrey
- Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychological Studies, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - Linda J Noble-Haeusslein
- Departments of Neurological Surgery and Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Sandy R Shultz
- Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - Terence J O'Brien
- Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - Vicki Anderson
- Australian Centre for Child Neuropsychological Studies, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Department of Psychology, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - Bridgette D Semple
- Department of Medicine (Royal Melbourne Hospital), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
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23
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Vanhove C, Bankstahl JP, Krämer SD, Visser E, Belcari N, Vandenberghe S. Accurate molecular imaging of small animals taking into account animal models, handling, anaesthesia, quality control and imaging system performance. EJNMMI Phys 2015; 2:31. [PMID: 26560138 PMCID: PMC4642455 DOI: 10.1186/s40658-015-0135-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 11/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Small-animal imaging has become an important technique for the development of new radiotracers, drugs and therapies. Many laboratories have now a combination of different small-animal imaging systems, which are being used by biologists, pharmacists, medical doctors and physicists. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the important factors in the design of a small animal, nuclear medicine and imaging experiment. Different experts summarize one specific aspect important for a good design of a small-animal experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Vanhove
- Department of Electronics and Information Systems, MEDISIP, Ghent University-iMinds Medical IT-IBiTech, De Pintelaan 185 block B, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Jens P Bankstahl
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Preclinical Molecular Imaging, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany
| | - Stefanie D Krämer
- Radiopharmaceutical Sciences/Biopharmacy, ETH Zurich, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 4, CH-8093, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Eric Visser
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Radboudumc, 6525 GA Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Nicola Belcari
- Department of Physics, University of Pisa and INFN sezione di Pisa, 56127 Pisa, Italy
| | - Stefaan Vandenberghe
- Department of Electronics and Information Systems, MEDISIP, Ghent University-iMinds Medical IT-IBiTech, De Pintelaan 185 block B, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium
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Gajhede Gram M, Gade L, Wogensen E, Mogensen J, Malá H. Equal effects of typical environmental and specific social enrichment on posttraumatic cognitive functioning after fimbria-fornix transection in rats. Brain Res 2015; 1629:182-95. [PMID: 26499260 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.10.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2015] [Revised: 10/08/2015] [Accepted: 10/12/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Enriched environment (EE) has been shown to have beneficial effects on cognitive recovery after brain injury. Typical EE comprises three components: (i) enlarged living area providing physical activation, (ii) sensory stimulation, and (iii) social stimulation. The present study assessed the specific contribution of the social stimulation. Animals were randomly divided into groups of (1) a typical EE, (2) pure social enrichment (SE), or (3) standard housing (SH) and subjected to either a sham operation or transection of the fimbria-fornix (FF). The effect of these conditions on acquisition of a delayed alternation task in a T-maze was assessed. The sham control groups were not affected by housing conditions. In the lesioned groups, both typical EE and SE improved the task acquisition, compared to SH. A baseline one-hour activity measurement confirmed an equal level of physical activity in the EE and SE groups. After delayed alternation testing, pharmacological challenges (muscarinergic antagonist scopolamine and dopaminergic antagonist SKF-83566) were used to assess cholinergic and dopaminergic contributions to task solution. Scopolamine led to a marked impairment in all groups. SKF-83566 significantly enhanced the performance of the lesioned group subjected to SE. The results demonstrate that housing in a typical as well as atypical EE can enhance cognitive recovery after mechanical injury to the hippocampus. The scopolamine challenge revealed a cholinergic dependency during task performance in all groups, regardless of lesion and housing conditions. The dopaminergic challenge revealed a difference in the neural substrates mediating recovery in the lesioned groups exposed to different types of housing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Gajhede Gram
- The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
| | - Louise Gade
- The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
| | - Elise Wogensen
- The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
| | - Jesper Mogensen
- The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
| | - Hana Malá
- The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
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Doulames VM, Vilcans M, Lee S, Shea TB. Social interaction attenuates the extent of secondary neuronal damage following closed head injury in mice. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:275. [PMID: 26528156 PMCID: PMC4606018 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recovery following Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can vary tremendously among individuals. Lifestyle following injury, including differential social interactions, may modulate the extent of secondary injury following TBI. To examine this possibility under controlled conditions, closed head injury (CHI) was induced in C57Bl6 mice using a standardized weight drop device after which mice were either housed in isolation or with their original cagemates (“socially-housed”) for 4 weeks. CHI transiently impaired novel object recognition (NOR) in both isolated and social mice, confirming physical and functional injury. By contrast, Y maze navigation was impaired in isolated but not social mice at 1–4 weeks post CHI. CHI increased excitotoxic signaling in hippocampal slices from all mice, which was transiently exacerbated by isolation at 2 weeks post CHI. CHI slightly increased reactive oxygen species and did not alter levels of amyloid beta (Abeta), total or phospho-tau, total or phosphorylated neurofilaments. CHI increased serum corticosterone in both groups, which was exacerbated by isolation. These findings support the hypothesis that socialization may attenuate secondary damage following TBI. In addition, a dominance hierarchy was noted among socially-housed mice, in which the most submissive mouse displayed indices of stress in the above analyses that were statistically identical to those observed for isolated mice. This latter finding underscores that the nature and extent of social interaction may need to vary among individuals to provide therapeutic benefit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa M Doulames
- Center for Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, UMass Lowell Lowell, MA, USA ; Biomedical and Biotechnology Program, University of Massachusetts Lowell Lowell, MA, USA
| | - Meghan Vilcans
- Center for Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, UMass Lowell Lowell, MA, USA ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell Lowell, MA, USA
| | - Sangmook Lee
- Center for Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, UMass Lowell Lowell, MA, USA ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell Lowell, MA, USA
| | - Thomas B Shea
- Center for Neurobiology and Neurodegeneration Research, UMass Lowell Lowell, MA, USA ; Biomedical and Biotechnology Program, University of Massachusetts Lowell Lowell, MA, USA ; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell Lowell, MA, USA
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26
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Enriched Environment Altered Aberrant Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Improved Long-Term Consequences After Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Adult Rats. J Mol Neurosci 2015; 56:409-21. [DOI: 10.1007/s12031-015-0571-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2015] [Accepted: 04/21/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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27
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Pardo M, King MK, Perez-Costas E, Melendez-Ferro M, Martinez A, Beurel E, Jope RS. Impairments in cognition and neural precursor cell proliferation in mice expressing constitutively active glycogen synthase kinase-3. Front Behav Neurosci 2015; 9:55. [PMID: 25788881 PMCID: PMC4349180 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2014] [Accepted: 02/13/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Brain glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is hyperactive in several neurological conditions that involve impairments in both cognition and neurogenesis. This raises the hypotheses that hyperactive GSK3 may directly contribute to impaired cognition, and that this may be related to deficiencies in neural precursor cells (NPC). To study the effects of hyperactive GSK3 in the absence of disease influences, we compared adult hippocampal NPC proliferation and performance in three cognitive tasks in male and female wild-type (WT) mice and GSK3 knockin mice, which express constitutively active GSK3. NPC proliferation was ~40% deficient in both male and female GSK3 knockin mice compared with WT mice. Environmental enrichment (EE) increased NPC proliferation in male, but not female, GSK3 knockin mice and WT mice. Male and female GSK3 knockin mice exhibited impairments in novel object recognition, temporal order memory, and coordinate spatial processing compared with gender-matched WT mice. EE restored impaired novel object recognition and temporal ordering in both sexes of GSK3 knockin mice, indicating that this repair was not dependent on NPC proliferation, which was not increased by EE in female GSK3 knockin mice. Acute 1 h pretreatment with the GSK3 inhibitor TDZD-8 also improved novel object recognition and temporal ordering in male and female GSK3 knockin mice. These findings demonstrate that hyperactive GSK3 is sufficient to impair adult hippocampal NPC proliferation and to impair performance in three cognitive tasks in both male and female mice, but these changes in NPC proliferation do not directly regulate novel object recognition and temporal ordering tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Pardo
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miami, FL, USA
| | - Margaret K King
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miami, FL, USA
| | - Emma Perez-Costas
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL, USA
| | | | - Ana Martinez
- Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas-CSIC Madrid, Spain
| | - Eleonore Beurel
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miami, FL, USA
| | - Richard S Jope
- Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami Miami, FL, USA
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Zubedat S, Aga-Mizrachi S, Cymerblit-Sabba A, Ritter A, Nachmani M, Avital A. Methylphenidate and environmental enrichment ameliorate the deleterious effects of prenatal stress on attention functioning. Stress 2015; 18:280-8. [PMID: 25783195 DOI: 10.3109/10253890.2015.1023790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Either pre- or post-natal environmental factors seem to play a key role in brain and behavioral development and to exert long-term effects. Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to prenatal stress (PS) leads to motor and learning deficits and elevated anxiety, while enriched environment (EE) shows protective effects. The dopaminergic system is also sensitive to environmental life circumstances and affects attention functioning, which serves as the preliminary gate to cognitive processes. However, the effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on the dopaminergic system and attentional functioning, in the context of these life experiences, remain unclear. Therefore, we aimed to examine the effects of EE or PS on distinct types of attention, along with possible effects of MPH exposure. We found that PS impaired selective attention as well as partial sustained attention, while EE had beneficial effects. Both EE and MPH ameliorated the deleterious effects of PS on attention functioning. Considering the possible psychostimulant effect of MPH, we examined both anxiety-like behavior as well as motor learning. We found that PS had a clear anxiogenic effect, whereas EE had an anxiolytic effect. Nevertheless, the treatment with both MPH and/or EE recovered the deleterious effects of PS. In the motor-learning task, the PS group showed superior performance while MPH led to impaired motor learning. Performance decrements were prevented in both the PS + MPH and EE + MPH groups. This study provides evidence that peripubertal exposure to EE (by providing enhanced sensory, motor, and social opportunities) or MPH treatments might be an optional therapeutic intervention in preventing the PS long-term adverse consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salman Zubedat
- a Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa , Israel and
| | - Shlomit Aga-Mizrachi
- a Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa , Israel and
| | - Adi Cymerblit-Sabba
- a Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa , Israel and
| | - Ami Ritter
- a Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa , Israel and
| | - Maayan Nachmani
- a Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa , Israel and
| | - Avi Avital
- a Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa , Israel and
- b Emek Medical Center , Afula , Israel
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Bondi CO, Klitsch KC, Leary JB, Kline AE. Environmental enrichment as a viable neurorehabilitation strategy for experimental traumatic brain injury. J Neurotrauma 2014; 31:873-88. [PMID: 24555571 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2014.3328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Environmental enrichment (EE) emerged as a robust independent variable capable of influencing behavioral outcome in experimental studies after the fortuitous observation by renowned neuropsychologist Donald O. Hebb that rats raised as pets in his home performed markedly better on problem-solving tasks than those kept in the laboratory. In the subsequent years, numerous studies ensued demonstrating that EE was also capable of inducing neuroplasticity in normal (i.e., noninjured) rats. These behavioral and neural alterations provided the impetus for investigating EE as a potential therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI), which, over the past two decades, has resulted in several reports. Hence, the aim of this review is to integrate the findings and present the current state of EE as a viable neurorehabilitation strategy for TBI. Using the specific key term searches "traumatic brain injury" and "environmental enrichment" or "enriched environment," 30 and 30 experimental TBI articles were identified by PubMed and Scopus, respectively. Of these, 27 articles were common to both search engines. An additional article was found on PubMed using the key terms "enriched environment" and "fluid percussion." A review of the bibliographies in the 34 articles did not yield additional citations. The overwhelming consensus of the 34 publications is that EE benefits behavioral and histological outcome after brain injury produced by various models. Further, the enhancements are observed in male and female as well as adult and pediatric rats and mice. Taken together, these cumulative findings provide strong support for EE as a generalized and robust preclinical model of neurorehabilitation. However, to further enhance the model and to more accurately mimic the clinic, future studies should continue to evaluate EE during more rehabilitation-relevant conditions, such as delayed and shorter time periods, as well as in combination with other therapeutic approaches, as we have been doing for the past few years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corina O Bondi
- 1 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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