Environmental enrichment-mediated functional improvement after experimental traumatic brain injury is contingent on task-specific neurobehavioral experience.

Full Abstract

Environmental enrichment (EE) is superior to standard (STD) housing in promoting functional recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, whether the EE-mediated benefits after TBI are dependent on exposure to enrichment during neurobehavioral training has not been elucidated. To address this issue, isoflurane-anesthetized adult male rats received either a cortical impact or sham injury and were then randomly assigned to early EE, delayed EE, continuous EE or no EE (i.e., STD conditions). Continuous EE or no EE was initiated immediately after surgery and continued for the duration of the study. Early EE began directly after surgery, continued for 1 week, and was then followed by STD living (2 rats per cage) for the remainder of the study, while delayed EE commenced 1 week after early STD housing. Functional outcome was assessed with established motor and cognitive tests on post-injury days 1-5 and 14-18, respectively. CA(1)/CA(3) neurons were quantified at 3 weeks. CA(3) cell loss was significantly attenuated in the TBI+continuous EE group versus the TBI+no EE group. Beam-walking was facilitated in the TBI groups that received either early or continuous EE versus those receiving delayed or no EE. Cognitive training was enhanced in the TBI groups that received continuous or delayed EE versus the early EE or no EE groups. These data suggest that EE-mediated functional improvement after TBI is contingent on task-specific neurobehavioral experience.

Author information

Author/s: Hoffman, Ann N (AN); Malena, Rebecca R (RR); Westergom, Brian P (BP); Luthra, Pallavi (P); Cheng, Jeffrey P (JP); Aslam, Haris A (HA); Zafonte, Ross D (RD); Kline, Anthony E (AE);

Affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States.

Grants: HD043851 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; HD046700 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Feb; vol 431 (issue 3) : pp 226-30

Dates: Created 2008/01/24; Completed 2008/05/02;

PMID: 18162321, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.