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A Protocol for Housing Mice in an Enriched Environment
Published on: June 8, 2015
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Early-life environmental enrichment generates persistent individualized behavior in mice
Sara Zocher1,2, Susan Schilling1,2, Anna N Grzyb1,2
1German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Dresden, Tatzberg 41, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Science Advances
|September 14, 2020
Summary
Early environmental enrichment creates lasting individual differences in mouse behavior, brain plasticity, and epigenetics, even after the enrichment is removed. These behavioral changes are linked to stable neurogenesis and persistent epigenetic modifications in the hippocampus.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Genetics
- Epigenetics
Background:
- Individual responses to environmental stimuli vary, but the long-term stability of these behaviors and their impact on brain plasticity remain unclear.
- Understanding how early experiences shape long-term behavior and brain function is crucial for developmental neuroscience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the stability of individualized behaviors and associated brain plasticity changes following environmental enrichment.
- To determine the persistence of behavioral, neurogenic, and epigenetic effects after withdrawal from an enriched environment.
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel longitudinal model using an enriched environment with 35 connected cages for monitoring 40 inbred mice over 3 to 6 months.
- Assessed behavioral individuality, adult hippocampal neurogenesis, and epigenetic modifications (genome-wide DNA methylation sequencing) in the hippocampus.
- Analyzed the persistence of these changes after a 3-month withdrawal from the enriched environment.
Main Results:
- Behavioral individuality established during 3 months of enrichment persisted for 3 months after withdrawal.
- Stable interindividual differences in adult hippocampal neurogenesis were observed.
- One-third of genome-wide DNA methylation changes were maintained post-enrichment withdrawal, indicating persistent epigenetic effects on neuronal plasticity genes.
Conclusions:
- Early-life environmental enrichment induces lasting individualized changes in behavior, brain plasticity, and epigenetics.
- These changes are stable and persist even when the environmental stimulus is removed.
- Epigenetic modifications, particularly DNA methylation, play a significant role in mediating the long-term effects of early experiences on behavior and brain function.
