Galeano Pablo, Blanco Eduardo, Logica Tornatore Tamara M A, Romero Juan I, Holubiec Mariana I, Rodríguez de Fonseca Fernando, Capani Francisco
Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Investigaciones Cardiológicas "Prof. Dr. Alberto C. Taquini" (ININCA), Universidad de Buenos Aires (CONICET) Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires (CONICET), Fundación Instituto Leloir Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Investigaciones Cardiológicas "Prof. Dr. Alberto C. Taquini" (ININCA), Universidad de Buenos Aires (CONICET) Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Laboratorio de Investigación, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica (IBIMA), Universidad de Málaga - Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga (UGC Salud Mental) Málaga, Spain ; Departamento de Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica (IBIMA), Universidad de Málaga Málaga, Spain.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2015 Jan 5;8:406. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00406. eCollection 2014.
Continuous environmental stimulation induced by exposure to enriched environment (EE) has yielded cognitive benefits in different models of brain injury. Perinatal asphyxia results from a lack of oxygen supply to the fetus and is associated with long-lasting neurological deficits. However, the effects of EE in middle-aged rats suffering perinatal asphyxia are unknown. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess whether life-long exposure to EE could counteract the cognitive and behavioral alterations in middle-aged asphyctic rats. Experimental groups consisted of rats born vaginally (CTL), by cesarean section (C+), or by C+ following 19 min of asphyxia at birth (PA). At weaning, rats were assigned to standard (SE) or enriched environment (EE) for 18 months. During the last month of housing, animals were submitted to a behavioral test battery including Elevated Plus Maze, Open Field, Novel Object Recognition and Morris water maze (MWM). Results showed that middle-aged asphyctic rats, reared in SE, exhibited an impaired performance in the spatial reference and working memory versions of the MWM. EE was able to counteract these cognitive impairments. Moreover, EE improved the spatial learning performance of middle-aged CTL and C+ rats. On the other hand, all groups reared in SE did not differ in locomotor activity and anxiety levels, while EE reduced locomotion and anxiety, regardless of birth condition. Recognition memory was altered neither by birth condition nor by housing environment. These results support the importance of environmental stimulation across the lifespan to prevent cognitive deficits induced by perinatal asphyxia.
暴露于丰富环境（EE）所引起的持续环境刺激在不同的脑损伤模型中均产生了认知益处。围产期窒息是由于胎儿缺氧所致，并与长期的神经功能缺损相关。然而，EE对围产期窒息的中年大鼠的影响尚不清楚。因此，本研究的目的是评估终生暴露于EE是否能够抵消中年窒息大鼠的认知和行为改变。实验组包括经阴道分娩的大鼠（CTL）、剖宫产的大鼠（C+）或出生时窒息19分钟后剖宫产的大鼠（PA）。在断奶时，将大鼠分配到标准环境（SE）或丰富环境（EE）中饲养18个月。在饲养的最后一个月，对动物进行一系列行为测试，包括高架十字迷宫、旷场试验、新物体识别和莫里斯水迷宫（MWM）。结果显示，饲养在SE中的中年窒息大鼠在MWM的空间参考和工作记忆版本中表现受损。EE能够抵消这些认知障碍。此外，EE改善了中年CTL和C+大鼠的空间学习表现。另一方面，饲养在SE中的所有组在运动活动和焦虑水平上没有差异，而EE降低了运动和焦虑，与出生条件无关。识别记忆既不受出生条件的影响，也不受饲养环境的影响。这些结果支持了终生环境刺激对预防围产期窒息所致认知缺陷的重要性。
