Environmental enrichment restores neurogenesis and rapid acquisition in aged rats

NEUROBIOLOGY OF AGING

卷:34

Article

Speisman, Rachel B.¹  Kumar, Ashok^2,3  Rani, Asha^2,3  Pastoriza, Jessica M.¹  Severance, Jamie E.¹  Foster, Thomas C.^2,3  Ormerod, Brandi K.^1,2,3 

[1] Univ Florida, J Crayton Pruitt Family Dept Biomed Engn, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA

[2] Univ Florida, Dept Neurosci, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA

[3] Univ Florida, McKnight Brain Inst, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA

关键词: Adult neurogenesis;    Learning;    Memory;    Enrichment;    Water maze;    Age-related;    Fisher 344;    Neural progenitor cell;    Hippocampus;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2012.05.023

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Strategies combatting cognitive decline among the growing aging population are vital. We tested whether environmental enrichment could reverse age-impaired rapid spatial search strategy acquisition concomitantly with hippocampal neurogenesis in rats. Young (5-8 months) and aged (20-22 months) male Fischer 344 rats were pair-housed and exposed to environmental enrichment (n = 7 young, 9 aged) or housed individually (n = 7 young, 7 aged) for 10 weeks. After 5 weeks, hidden platform trials (5 blocks of 3 trials; 15 m inter-block interval), a probe trial, and then visible platform trials (5 blocks of 3 trials; 15 m inter-block interval) commenced in the water maze. One week after testing, rats were given 5 daily intraperitoneal bromodeoxyuridine (50 mg/kg) injections and perfused 4 weeks later to quantify neurogenesis. Although young rats outperformed aged rats, aged enriched rats outperformed aged individually housed rats on all behavioral measures. Neurogenesis decreased with age but enrichment enhanced new cell survival, regardless of age. The novel correlation between new neuron number and behavioral measures obtained in a rapid water maze task among aged rats, suggests that environmental enrichment increases their ability to rapidly acquire and flexibly use spatial information along with neurogenesis. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

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