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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
A Protocol for Housing Mice in an Enriched Environment
Published on: June 8, 2015
Environment enrichment rescues the neurodegenerative phenotypes in presenilins-deficient mice
Suzhen Dong1, Chunxia Li, Pu Wu
1Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, MOE&STCSM, Shanghai Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China 200062.
Abstract:
Presenilin (PS) 1 and 2 conditional double knockout (cDKO) mice show progressive memory dysfunction and forebrain degeneration. Gene expression profiling results revealed a strong activation of immunity and inflammation responses in the brains of 10-month-old cDKO mice. As environmental enrichment (EE) has been shown to be able to improve memory and induce neurogenesis of the brain, we assessed the effects of EE on the memory performance and the neurodegeneration in cDKO mice. We found that EE effectively enhanced memory and partially rescued the forebrain atrophy of the cDKO mice. Our results suggest that immunity and inflammation could play important roles in the neurodegeneration of cDKO mice. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of EE may be associated with the inhibition of the expression of immunity and inflammation-related genes in the brain.
