title: Effects of Postnatal Enriched Environment in a Model of Parkinson's Disease in Adult Rats.
abstract: Environmental enrichment is a widespread neuroprotective strategy during development and also in the mature nervous system. Several research groups have described that enriched environment in adult rats has an impact on the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of our present study was to examine the effects of early, postnatal environmental enrichment after 6-hydroxydopamine-induced (6-OHDA) lesion of the substantia nigra in adulthood. Newborn Wistar rats were divided into control and enriched groups according to their environmental conditions. For environmental enrichment, during the first five postnatal weeks animals were placed in larger cages and exposed to intensive complex stimuli. Dopaminergic cell loss, and hypokinetic and asymmetrical signs were evaluated after inducing PD with unilateral injections of 6-OHDA in three-month-old animals. Treatment with 6-OHDA led to a significant cell loss in the substantia nigra of control animals, however, postnatal enriched circumstances could rescue the dopaminergic cells. Although there was no significant difference in the percentage of surviving cells between 6-OHDA-treated control and enriched groups, the slightly less dopaminergic cell loss in the enriched group compared to control animals resulted in less severe hypokinesia. Our investigation is the first to provide evidence for the neuroprotective effect of postnatal enriched environment in PD later in life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. junglingadel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jungling
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. dora.reglodi@aok.pte.hu.
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reglodi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. zsofia.karadi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zsofia Nozomi
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Karadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. gabor.horvathmd@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gabor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Horvath
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. jozsef.farkas@aok.pte.hu.
authors.forename: Jozsef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. balazs.b.gaszner@aok.pte.hu.
authors.forename: Balazs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gaszner
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Pecs Medical School, Pecs 7624, Hungary. andreatamassz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tamas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004777:Environment; D000066829:Neuroprotection; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010641:Phenotype; D051381:Rats; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
keywords: 6-OHDA; Parkinson’s disease; enriched environment; neuroprotection; postnatal; rat; substantia nigra