Impact of enriched environment on motor performance and learning in mice

Authors
Dijkhuizen, S., Van Ginneken, L. M. C., IJpelaar, A. H. C., Koekkoek, S. K. E., De Zeeuw, C. I., Boele, H. J.


Lab

Journal
Scientific Reports

Abstract
Neuroscience heavily relies on animal welfare in laboratory rodents as it can significantly affect brain development, cognitive function and memory formation. Unfortunately, laboratory animals are often raised in artificial environments devoid of physical and social stimuli, potentially leading to biased outcomes in behavioural assays. To assess this effect, we examined the impact of social and physical cage enrichment on various forms of motor coordination. Our findings indicate that while enriched-housed animals did not exhibit faster learning in eyeblink conditioning, the peak timing of their conditioned responses was slightly, but significantly, improved. Additionally, enriched-housed animals outperformed animals that were housed in standard conditions in the accelerating LE8305 and ErasmusLadder test. In contrast, we found no significant effect of enrichment on the balance beam and BIO-GS3. Overall, our data suggest that an enriched environment can improve motor performance and motor learning under challenging and/or novel circumstances, possibly reflecting an altered state of anxiety.

Keywords/Topics
Physical enrichment; Social enrichment; Cage enrichment; Delay eyeblink conditioning ;LE8305; Erasmus;Ladder ;Mice

BIOSEB Instruments Used:
Grip strength test (BIO-GS4)

Source :

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-56568-3

Related products

Grip strength test

Publication request

Thank you for your interest in our product range and your request for this publication, which will be sent to you if the research team and the journal allow it. Our commercial team will contact you as soon as possible.