Impact of enriched environment on motor performance and learning in mice

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 5962
• Main Authors: Dijkhuizen, S., Van Ginneken, L. M. C., IJpelaar, A. H. C., Koekkoek, S. K. E., De Zeeuw, C. I., Boele, H. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12.03.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/378; 631/378/1595; 631/378/2632; Animal welfare; Animals; Animals, Laboratory; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Cage enrichment; Cognitive ability; Conditioning, Classical; Coordination; Delay eyeblink conditioning; Enrichment; Environment; ErasmusLadder; Eyelid conditioning; Humanities and Social Sciences; Laboratory animals; Laboratory tests; Learning; Maze Learning - physiology; Mice; Motor Activity - physiology; Motor skill learning; Motor task performance; multidisciplinary; Physical enrichment; Rotarod; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Social enrichment; Rotarod; Social enrichment; Delay eyeblink conditioning; Physical enrichment; Mice; Cage enrichment; ErasmusLadder
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56568-3

Neuroscience heavily relies on animal welfare in laboratory rodents as it can significantly affect brain development, cognitive function and memory formation. Unfortunately, laboratory animals are often raised in artificial environments devoid of physical and social stimuli, potentially leading to biased outcomes in behavioural assays. To assess this effect, we examined the impact of social and physical cage enrichment on various forms of motor coordination. Our findings indicate that while enriched-housed animals did not exhibit faster learning in eyeblink conditioning, the peak timing of their conditioned responses was slightly, but significantly, improved. Additionally, enriched-housed animals outperformed animals that were housed in standard conditions in the accelerating rotarod and ErasmusLadder test. In contrast, we found no significant effect of enrichment on the balance beam and grip strength test. Overall, our data suggest that an enriched environment can improve motor performance and motor learning under challenging and/or novel circumstances, possibly reflecting an altered state of anxiety.