title: Complex Living Conditions Impair Behavioral Inhibition but Improve Attention in Rats.
abstract: Rapid adaptation to changes, while maintaining a certain level of behavioral inhibition is an important feature in every day functioning. How environmental context and challenges in life can impact on the development of this quality is still unknown. In the present study, we examined the effect of a complex rearing environment during adolescence on attention and behavioral inhibition in adult male rats. We also tested whether these effects were affected by an adverse early life challenge, maternal deprivation (MD). We found that animals that were raised in large, two floor Marlau(TM) cages, together with 10 conspecifics, showed improved attention, but impaired behavioral inhibition in the 5-choice serial reaction time task. The early life challenge of 24 h MD on postnatal day 3 led to a decline in bodyweight during adolescence, but did not by itself influence responses in the 5-choice task in adulthood, nor did it moderate the effects of complex housing. Our data suggest that a complex rearing environment leads to a faster adaptation to changes in the environment, but at the cost of lower behavioral inhibition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center UtrechtUtrecht, Netherlands; Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden UniversityLeiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rixt
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van der Veen
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jiska
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kentrop
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Liza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Tas
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Manila
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marinus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: van IJzendoorn
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University Leiden, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marian J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bakermans-Kranenburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Joëls
keywords: 5-choice SRTT; adolescence; attention; behavioral inhibition; early life; enriched environment; maternal deprivation