Enriched Environment Minimizes Anxiety/Depressive-Like Behavior in Rats Exposed to Immobilization Stress and Augments Hippocampal Neurogenesis (In Vitro)

AbstractChronic exposure to stress disturbs the homeostasis of the brain, thus, deleteriously affecting the neurological circuits. In literature, there are investigations about the stress-related alterations in behavioral response and adult neurogenesis; however, an effective combating strategy to evade stress is still at stake. Hence, the present study is designed to investigate the effect of an enriched environment in alleviating the anxiety/depressive-like behavioral response and enhancing the adult neurogenesis in the hippocampal region of rats exposed to chronic immobilization stress. The rats were exposed to chronic immobilization stress (IS) for 4 h/day followed by the enriched environment (EE) for 2 h/day for 28  days, and finally, the hippocampal region was dissected out after the behavioral analyses. IS group showed increased behavioral despair to tail suspension test, decrement in the activity for light/dark box test, and less grooming activity towards splash test. In contrast, IS + EE rats exhibite d a decrease in the activity of tail suspension test and an increase in the behavioral response to light/dark box test and splash test. The in vitro assessment of primary cultures of neurospheres from the IS group resulted in decreased levels of proliferation in the cell number and metabolic activi ty of both MTT assay and lactate levels. IS + EE group revealed an increase in the growth curve of neurospheres and higher metabolic activities of MTT and lactate. ...
Source: Journal of Molecular Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research