Johansson B B
Department of Neurology, Lund University Hospital, Sweden.
Acta Neurochir Suppl. 1996;66:63-7. doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-9465-2_11.
After permanent ligation of the middle cerebral artery the motor function of rats housed in an enriched environment, i.e. cages with opportunities for various activities but not forcing the rats to do any particular task, is significantly better than in rats housed in individual cages. Rats kept in an enriched environment before and after MCA ligation improved sooner and slightly more than those placed in the enriched environment after ischemia but with no lasting significant difference except for climbing. Preliminary studies suggest that social stimulation is more important than physical activity. Rats with fetal neocortical grafts implanted into the infarct cavity performed better if exposed to enriched environment than grafted control rats housed in standard laboratory cages with 5 rats in each cage. However, they did not perform better than non-grafted rats housed in the same enriched environment. The infarct size did not differ between rats housed in an enriched environment and control rats. There was no correlation between infarct size and performance in rats exposed to an enriched environment. The improved motor function suggest that a rich environment may stimulate mechanisms that enhance brain plasticity.
在永久性结扎大脑中动脉后，饲养在丰富环境中的大鼠（即笼子里有各种活动机会但不强迫大鼠执行任何特定任务）的运动功能明显优于饲养在单独笼子里的大鼠。在大脑中动脉结扎前后都饲养在丰富环境中的大鼠，其恢复比缺血后才置于丰富环境中的大鼠更快且稍多一些，但除了攀爬外没有持续的显著差异。初步研究表明，社交刺激比身体活动更重要。将胎儿新皮质移植物植入梗死腔的大鼠，如果暴露于丰富环境中，其表现比饲养在标准实验室笼子（每个笼子5只大鼠）中的移植对照大鼠更好。然而，它们的表现并不比饲养在相同丰富环境中的未移植大鼠更好。饲养在丰富环境中的大鼠与对照大鼠之间的梗死面积没有差异。在暴露于丰富环境的大鼠中，梗死面积与表现之间没有相关性。运动功能的改善表明，丰富的环境可能刺激增强大脑可塑性的机制。
