Department of Psychology and Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 98225-9172, USA.
Department of Psychology and Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 98225-9172, USA.
Appetite. 2019 Aug 1;139:50-58. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.03.037. Epub 2019 Apr 17.
A single, overnight (acute) environmental enrichment (EE; a large environment with conspecifics and novel objects) experience robustly decreases sucrose consumption (taking) and responsiveness to sucrose-paired cues (seeking) in rats. Persisting effects of acute EE on sucrose seeking and taking have not yet been identified. In the present study, rats were trained to self-administer a 10% sucrose solution paired with a compound tone + light stimulus for 10 days in 2-h sessions. We then examined the persistence of acute EE effects at reducing sucrose seeking and taking in a 12-h test immediately following acute EE (Exp. 1), or for 7 days with daily 1-h tests immediately following acute EE, or after a 24-h delay (Exp. 2). We also examined the persistence of acute EE effects on sucrose taking in rats responding on a PR schedule in 7 daily sessions following acute EE (Exp. 3). We found that acute EE was effective at reducing responding for both sucrose and a sucrose-paired cue, persisting throughout the 12-h test (Exp. 1). A reduction in sucrose seeking persisted for 24 h and a reduction in sucrose taking persisted for 72 h following acute EE plus a 24-h delay prior to testing (Exp. 2). Decreased PR responding for sucrose was observed following acute EE; this reduction persisted for 48 h (Exp. 3). These findings indicate that acute exposure to EE has persisting effects at reducing sucrose seeking and taking in rats. Acute EE may have translational value as a non-pharmacological intervention to curb sucrose craving.
单次、过夜（急性）环境丰富（EE；有同种动物和新奇物体的大环境）体验可显著降低大鼠的蔗糖消耗（摄入）和对蔗糖配对线索的反应性（寻找）。急性 EE 对蔗糖寻找和摄入的持续影响尚未确定。在本研究中，大鼠接受了 10%蔗糖溶液与复合音+光刺激配对的 10 天 2 小时训练。然后，我们在急性 EE 后立即进行的 12 小时测试（实验 1）中，或在急性 EE 后每天进行 1 小时测试持续 7 天，或在 24 小时延迟后（实验 2），检查急性 EE 对减少蔗糖寻找和摄入的持续影响。我们还在急性 EE 后 7 天的每日 7 次 PR 试验中检查了急性 EE 对蔗糖摄入的持续影响（实验 3）。我们发现急性 EE 有效降低了蔗糖和蔗糖配对线索的反应，在 12 小时测试中持续存在（实验 1）。急性 EE 后 24 小时内，蔗糖寻求的减少持续存在，72 小时内，急性 EE 加 24 小时延迟后测试时，蔗糖摄入的减少持续存在（实验 2）。急性 EE 后观察到 PR 对蔗糖的反应减少；这种减少持续了 48 小时（实验 3）。这些发现表明，急性 EE 暴露对减少大鼠的蔗糖寻求和摄入具有持久的影响。急性 EE 可能具有作为抑制蔗糖渴望的非药物干预的转化价值。
