title: Environmental enrichment: evidence for an unexpected therapeutic influence.
abstract: Environmental enrichment produces wide-ranging effects in the brain at molecular, cellular, network, and behavioral levels. The changes in neuronal plasticity are driven by changes in neurotransmitters, neurotrophic factors, neuronal morphology, neurogenesis, network properties of the brain, and behavioral correlates of learning and memory. Exposure to an enriched environment has also demonstrated intriguing possibilities for treatment of a variety of neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. The effect of environmental enrichment in epilepsy, a neurodegenerative disorder with pathological neuronal plasticity, is of considerable interest. Recent reports of the effect of environmental enrichment in the Bassoon mutant mouse, a genetic model of early onset epilepsy, provides a significant addition to the literature in this area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53705, USA; Department of Neurology, William S Middleton Veterans Memorial Hospital, Madison, WI 53705, USA.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kotloski
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53705, USA. Electronic address: sutula@neurology.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Sutula
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004777:Environment; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C498441:Bsn protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
keywords: Bassoon; Environmental enrichment; Epilepsy; Treatment