Enriched Mice Research Articles

Enriched housing differentially alters allostatic load and cardiopulmonary responses to wildfire-related smoke in male and female mice

ABSTRACT Living conditions are an important modifier of individual health outcomes and may lead to higher allostatic load (AL). However, housing-induced cardiovascular and immune effects contributing to altered environmental responsiveness remain understudied. This investigation was conducted to examine the influence of enriched (EH) versus depleted housing (DH) conditions on cardiopulmonary functions, systemic immune responses, and allostatic load in response to a single wildfire smoke (WS) exposure in mice. Male and female C57BL/6J mice were divided into EH or DH for 22 weeks, and cardiopulmonary assessments measured before and after exposures to either one-hr filtered air (FA) or flaming eucalyptus WS exposure. Male and female DH mice exhibited increased heart rate (HR) and left ventricular mass (LVM), as well as reduced stroke volume and end diastolic volume (EDV) one week following exposure to WS. Female DH mice displayed significantly elevated levels of IL-2, IL-17, corticosterone and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) following WS, while female in EH mice higher epinephrine levels were detected. Female mice exhibited higher AL than males with DH, which was potentiated post-WS exposure. Thus, DH increased susceptibility to extreme air pollution in a gender-dependent manner suggesting that living conditions need to be evaluated as a modifier of toxicological responses.

Exposure to an enriched environment selectively increases the functional response of the pre‐synaptic NMDA receptors which modulate noradrenaline release in mouse hippocampus

We evaluated the impact of environmental training on the functions of pre-synaptic glutamatergic NMDA and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) and nicotinic receptors expressed by hippocampal noradrenergic nerve terminals. Synaptosomes isolated from the hippocampi of mice housed in enriched (EE) or standard (SE) environment were labeled with [(3)H]noradrenaline ([(3)H]NA) and tritium release was monitored during exposure in superfusion to NMDA, AMPA, epibatidine or high K(+). NMDA -evoked [(3)H]NA release from EE hippocampal synaptosomes was significantly higher than that from SE synaptosomes, while the [(3)H]NA overflow elicited by 100 muM AMPA, 1 muM epibatidine or (9, 15, 25 mM) KCl was unchanged. In EE mice, the apparent affinity of NMDA or glycine was unmodified, while the efficacy was significantly augmented. Sensitivity to non-selective or subtype-selective NMDA receptor antagonists (MK-801, ifenprodil and Zn(2+) ions) was not modified in EE. Finally, the analysis of NMDA receptor subunit mRNA expression in noradrenergic cell bodies of the locus coeruleus showed that NR1, NR2A, NR2B and NR2D subunits were unchanged, while NR2C decreased significantly in EE mice as compared to SE mice. Functional up-regulation of the pre-synaptic NMDA receptors modulating NA release might contribute to the improved learning and memory found in animals exposed to an EE.

Environmental modulation of dendritic spine dynamics in mouse hippocampus

Event Abstract Back to Event Environmental modulation of dendritic spine dynamics in mouse hippocampus Antonio Trabalza1*, Carmelo Alessio-Sgobio2, Martine Ammassari-Teule3 and Arturo Bevilacqua1 1 University of Rome “Sapienza”, Department of Psychology, Italy 2 IRCCS “Santa Lucia”, Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Italy 3 C.N.R., Rome and IRCCS “Santa Lucia”, Institute of Psychopharmacology, Italy Ephrins and their tyrosine kinase receptors are involved in patterning of axonal connections during development in the nervous system of vertebrates [1]. They also play a role in neuronal plasticity in the adult brain, with particular reference to the hippocampus [2], in which they also modulate LTP induction [3]. We have raised C57/BL6 mice in an enriched environment, which increases adult hippocampal activity and alters hippocampal-dependent behaviors in rodents [4], to examine whether experience-dependent stimulation induces behavioral ameliorations, modifications in neuronal morphology and variations in the expression of ephrins, such as ephrin-B2 and eph-B2 receptor, in such structure. After an eight-week enrichment training, mice were challenged by the context-dependent fear conditioning test and Morris Water Maze, which are behavioral paradigms sensitive to hippocampal modifications [5], and by the cue-dependent fear conditioning test, which mainly relies on amygdala functions. Enriched mice (EM) performed better than non-enriched ones (CM) in the context-dependent fear conditioning and Morris Water Maze tests, but not in the cue-dependent fear conditioning test. After the enrichment period, dendritic arborization and spine density of Golgi-Cox stained CA1 hippocampal neurons were increased with respect to CM. After the fear conditioning testing however, spine density of EM hippocampal neurons decreased below the level of CM. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed a specific higher abundance of ephrin-B2 and eph-B2 receptor in the pyramidal layer of the CA1 area and in cortical layers, but not the amygdala, of EM. We suggest that: hippocampal neuron complexity is enhanced by enrichment along with spatial learning, but is rapidly decreased by an aversive experience; ephrin-B2 and eph-B2 receptor are involved in dendritic spine dinamycs during learning.