Equal effects of typical environmental and specific social enrichment on posttraumatic cognitive functioning after fimbria-fornix transection in rats.
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.
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: marie.gajhede@psy.ku.dk.
Marie
M
Gajhede Gram
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: louisegade1987@gmail.com.
Louise
L
Gade
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: elise@wogensen.com.
Elise
E
Wogensen
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: jesper.mogensen@psy.ku.dk.
Jesper
J
Mogensen
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Oester Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: hana.mala@psy.ku.dk.
Hana
H
Malá
D000818:Animals; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D020712:Fornix, Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D012931:Social Environment
D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists
Brain injury; Cognitive recovery; Dopamine antagonist; Enriched environment; Physical activity; Social environment