University of Pittsburgh Study Determines That Enriching Adult Male Rats Prior to TBI Does Not Attenuate Neurobehavioral or Histological Deficits
June 26, 2023
Environmental enrichment (EE) confers significant increases in neurobehavioral and cognitive recovery and decreases histological damage in various models of traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, despite EE's pervasiveness, little is known regarding its prophylactic potential.
The goal of the team’s study – a team consisting of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation – was to determine whether enriching rats prior to a controlled cortical impact exerts protection as evidenced by attenuated injury-induced neurobehavioral and histological deficits relative to rats without prior EE. The hypothesis was that enrichment prior to TBI would be protective.
After two weeks of EE or standard (STD) housing, anesthetized adult male rats received either a controlled cortical impact (2.8 mm deformation at 4 m/s) or sham injury and then were placed in EE or STD conditions. Motor (beam-walk) and cognitive (spatial learning) performance were assessed on post-operative days 1-5 and 14-18, respectively. Cortical lesion volume was quantified on day 21.
The group that was housed in STD conditions before TBI and received post-injury EE performed significantly better in motor, cognitive, and histological outcomes vs. both groups in STD conditions regardless of whether having received pre-injury EE or not (p < 0.05).
The team determined that because no differences in any endpoint were revealed between the two STD-housed groups after TBI, this suggests that enriching rats prior to TBI does not attenuate neurobehavioral or histological deficits and therefore does not support the hypothesis.
Read the full study.
Research team
Eleni Moschonas
Peter Niesman
Vincent Vozzella
Rachel Bittner
Connor Brennan
Jeffrey Cheng
Corina Bondi, PhD
Anthony Kline, PhD
