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Environmental enrichment: Effects on stereotyped behavior and dendritic morphology
Author(s) -
Turner Cortney A.,
Lewis Mark H.,
King Michael A.
Publication year - 2003
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/dev.10116
Subject(s) - dendritic spine , environmental enrichment , striatum , dentate gyrus , neuroscience , cortex (anatomy) , motor cortex , biology , granule (geology) , psychology , central nervous system , hippocampal formation , stimulation , dopamine , paleontology
We evaluated whether environmental enrichment‐related effects on the development of stereotyped behavior in deer mice were associated with alterations in dendritic morphology. Deer mice were reared under enriched or standard housing conditions and then tested in automated photocell detectors and classified as stereotypic or nonstereotypic. Dendritic morphology was assessed in layer V pyramidal neurons of the motor cortex, medium spiny neurons of the dorsolateral striatum, and granule cells of the dentate gyrus using Golgi‐Cox histochemistry. Enriched nonstereotypic mice exhibited significantly higher dendritic spine densities in the motor cortex and the striatum than enriched stereotypic or standard‐cage mice. Significant increases in dendritic arborization following environmental enrichment also were observed. These results suggest that the enrichment‐related prevention of stereotyped behavior is associated with increased dendritic spine density. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 43: 20–27, 2003.