Neonatal pain impairs spatial memory: Enrichment as a neuroprotective approach

Prematurity is on the rise worldwide and the need for procedures done to premature and mature infants to enhance their survival is also rising. These procedures, despite being lifesaving, result in short- and long-term detrimental impacts. The need for non-pharmacological alleviation of these negative consequences is clinically and ethically necessary. Enriched environment (EE) is such a modality that had been explored but needs further study. This research was undertaken to explore the possibility for EE to mitigate some or all the harmful effects of neonatal pain. In this work, EE was shown to mitigate the effects of painful neonatal procedures on learning and memory later in life in Wistar rats. The effects of EE on pain sensitivity were mixed; at 4 weeks of age, EE reversed the heightened pain sensitivity, but at 8 weeks it had no effect. In conclusion, EE is an easy and inexpensive method that has a major effect on early-life distressful events.