Environmental enrichment increases adult hippocampal neurogenesis and alters hippocampal-dependent behavior in rodents. To investigate a causal link between these two observations, we analyzed the effect of enrichment on spatial learning and anxiety-like behavior while blocking adult hippocampal neurogenesis. We report that environmental enrichment alters behavior in mice regardless of their hi...

Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with no effective treatment. In the R6/1 mouse model of HD, environmental enrichment delays the neurologic phenotype onset and prevents cerebral volume loss by unknown molecular mechanisms. We examined the effects of environmental enrichment on well-characterized neuropathological parameters in a mouse model of HD. We found a trend to...

Both social defeat stress and environmental enrichment stimulate adrenal glucocorticoid secretion, but they have opposing effects on hippocampal neurogenesis and mood. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation and decreased neurogenesis are consequences of social defeat. These outcomes are correlated with depressive states, but a causal role in the etiology of depression remains elusive...

New neurons are incorporated throughout life into the brains of many vertebrate and nonvertebrate species. This process of adult neurogenesis is regulated by a variety of external and endogenous factors, including environmental enrichment, which increases the production of neurons in juvenile mice and crayfish. The primary goal of this study was to exploit the spatial separation of the neuronal...

Environmental enrichment has been reported to delay or restore age-related cognitive deficits, however, a mechanism to account for the cause and progression of normal cognitive decline and its preservation by environmental enrichment is lacking. Using genome-wide SAGE-Seq, we provide a global assessment of differentially expressed genes altered with age and environmental enrichment in the hippo...

yersiniosis is a common infection in human and animals. yersinia enterocolitica infection has been associated with a variety of clinical manifestations. this bacterium has been isolated from water, meat, milk environment, animals and so on. our studies have been accomplished about isolation of y. enterocolitica from vegetables such as lettuce, carrot, celery, parsley, tomato, cabbage, radish, m...

Light intensity intercepted by the soybean canopy during the reproductive period is an important environmental factor determining soybean yield components and grain yield. A 2-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of light enrichment and its interaction with planting density on yield formation of soybean cultivars. Light enrichment increased seed yield per plant and yie...

ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT A marked difference noted when comparing small mammals and exotic pets to their wild counterparts is the degree of complexity and interaction that exists in nature and the frequent lack of complexity and interaction in pet environments. While laboratories, zoos, and large-scale animal breeding facilities are encouraged or required to provide enrichment programs for thei...

Nonhuman animals in captivity can experience environmental privation that results in their exhibiting abnormal behaviors. Environmental enrichment techniques can help improve their welfare. This study investigated the behavior of 8 zoo-housed oncilla cats (Leopardus tigrinus) in response to 2 odors (catnip and cinnamon) introduced individually into the animals' enclosures for 3 consecutive days...