• Cordier Javier Maximiliano JM Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de Có, Julieta Paola Aguggia, Víctor Danelon, Mir Franco Rafael FR Cátedra de Fisiología Animal, Departamento de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Rioja, Av. Luis M. de la Fuente S/N, C, María Angélica Rivarola, and Daniel Mascó.
• Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba -Córdoba, Argentina.
• Neuroscience. 2021 Jan 15; 453: 138-147.

AbstractAdverse environments during early life may lead to different neurophysiological and behavioral consequences, including depression and learning and memory deficits that persist into adulthood. Previously, we demonstrated that exposure to an enriched environment during adolescence mitigates the cognitive impairment observed after maternal separation in a task-specific manner. However, underlying neural mechanisms are still not fully understood. The current study examines the effects of neonatal maternal separation (MS) and postweaning environmental enrichment (EE) on spatial learning and memory performance in a short version of the Barnes Maze, active and passive behaviors in the forced swim test, and on TrkB/BDNF receptor expression in the hippocampus. Our results revealed that MS impaired acquisition learning and that enriched rats performed better than non-enriched rats in acquisition trials, regardless of early conditions. During the probe, enriched-housed rats demonstrated better performance than those reared in standard conditions. No significant differences between groups were found in the forced swim test. Both MS and EE increase full-length TrkB expression, and the combination of MS and EE treatment caused the highest levels of this protein expression. Similarly, truncated TrkB expression was higher in the MS/EE group. Animal facility rearing (AFR) non-enriched groups present the lowest activation of phosphorylated Erk, a canonical downstream kinase of TrkB signaling. Taken together, our results demonstrate the importance of enriched environment as an intervention to ameliorate the effects of maternal separation on spatial learning and memory. TrkB/BDNF signaling could mediate neuroplastic changes related to learning and memory during exposure to enriched environment.Copyright © 2020 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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