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Role of an enriched environment on the restoration of behavioral deficits in Lurcher mutant mice
Author(s) -
Caston J.,
Devulder B.,
Jouen F.,
Lalonde R.,
DelhayeBouchaud N.,
Mariani J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2302(199912)35:4<291::aid-dev4>3.0.co;2-u
Subject(s) - mutant , psychology , environmental enrichment , neuroscience , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , communication , biology , genetics , gene
Lurcher mutant mice, characterized by massive degeneration of the cerebellar cortex, and normal littermate controls were reared from birth either in standard conditions or in an enriched environment. The effects of this manipulation on motor functions, landmark water maze learning, exploration, and anxiety were evaluated at 3 months of age. Under standard conditions, Lurcher mutants were impaired in comparison to controls on tests of sensorimotor function and had altered exploratory tendencies. The enriched housing improved the motor coordination of Lurcher mutants and decreased the number of trials before reaching criterion in the landmark water maze. In addition to its effects in Lurcher mutants, enriched rearing also increased some behavioral abilities in normal mice. It is hypothesized that enriched housing altered brain morphology or neurochemistry in both normal and cerebellar‐damaged animals. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 35: 291–303, 1999