• Jing-Jing Zheng, Rong Zou, Shajin Huang, Tian-Jia Song, and Xiang Yu.
• Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
• Neuroscience. 2020 Aug 21; 442: 138-150.

AbstractRearing rodents in an enriched environment (EE), with increased sensory stimulations and social interactions, is a well-established model for naturally increasing neural activity. It is well-known that EE-rearing of rodents from adolescence or during adulthood leads to extensive biochemical, morphological, electrophysiological and behavioral changes. Here, we examine the effects of EE-rearing from birth on adult behavior. Through a battery of assays, we found that mice EE-reared from birth had better acquisition and consolidation of memory, in both aversive-based fear conditioning and reward-based contextual association tasks. Moreover, EE-reared mice showed reduced anxiety in novel environments and enhanced social interactions. Together, these results demonstrated that EE-rearing from birth significantly improved motor ability, learning and memory and sociability, while reducing anxiety. A better understanding of how early environmental influences affect behavior is not only important for understanding neural circuit wiring, but also provides insight into developing more effective intervention programs for neurodevelopmental disorders.Copyright © 2020 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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