TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of voluntary exercise in enriched rearing
T2 - A behavioral analysis
AU - Pietropaolo, Susanna
AU - Feldon, Joram
AU - Alleva, Enrico
AU - Cirulli, Francesca
AU - Yee, Benjamin K.
PY - 2006/8
Y1 - 2006/8
N2 - The effects of postweaning enriched rearing and home cage voluntary wheel-running exercise in adulthood were contrasted on a comprehensive battery of tests designed to assess mnemonic, attentional, emotional, and motor functions. In a 2 x 2 factorial design, female C57BL/6 mice were housed in groups in either standard or enriched cages, which were equipped with either a running or a locked wheel. They were maintained in the corresponding housing conditions for 2 months postweaning prior to, and throughout, testing. Enriched rearing was associated with anxiogenesis, hypolocomotor activity, enhanced motor skills, retarded extinction of conditioned responding, and improved water maze performance. Exercise as such enhanced motor coordination and facilitated extinction of contextual conditioning. Evidence for an interaction between enrichment and exercise was apparent in the open field test, conditioned freezing to a tone stimulus, prepulse inhibition, and acquisition of water maze reference memory. Hence, care should be taken to control for the unique contribution of wheel-running exercise when it is included as an integral component of the enrichment procedure.
AB - The effects of postweaning enriched rearing and home cage voluntary wheel-running exercise in adulthood were contrasted on a comprehensive battery of tests designed to assess mnemonic, attentional, emotional, and motor functions. In a 2 x 2 factorial design, female C57BL/6 mice were housed in groups in either standard or enriched cages, which were equipped with either a running or a locked wheel. They were maintained in the corresponding housing conditions for 2 months postweaning prior to, and throughout, testing. Enriched rearing was associated with anxiogenesis, hypolocomotor activity, enhanced motor skills, retarded extinction of conditioned responding, and improved water maze performance. Exercise as such enhanced motor coordination and facilitated extinction of contextual conditioning. Evidence for an interaction between enrichment and exercise was apparent in the open field test, conditioned freezing to a tone stimulus, prepulse inhibition, and acquisition of water maze reference memory. Hence, care should be taken to control for the unique contribution of wheel-running exercise when it is included as an integral component of the enrichment procedure.
KW - Enriched environment
KW - Mouse
KW - Neurobehavioral plasticity
KW - Running wheel
KW - Voluntary physical exercise
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33747331592&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/0735-7044.120.4.787
DO - 10.1037/0735-7044.120.4.787
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AN - SCOPUS:33747331592
SN - 0735-7044
VL - 120
SP - 787
EP - 803
JO - Behavioral Neuroscience
JF - Behavioral Neuroscience
IS - 4
ER -