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The development of repetitive motor behaviors in deer mice: Effects of environmental enrichment, repeated testing, and differential mediation by indirect basal ganglia pathway activation
Author(s) -
Bechard Allison R.,
Bliznyuk Nikolay,
Lewis Mark H.
Publication year - 2017
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.21503
Subject(s) - basal ganglia , mediation , psychology , environmental enrichment , basal (medicine) , neuroscience , developmental psychology , biology , central nervous system , endocrinology , political science , insulin , law
Little is known about the mechanisms mediating the development of repetitive behaviors in human or animals. Deer mice reared with environmental enrichment (EE) exhibit fewer repetitive behaviors and greater indirect basal ganglia pathway activation as adults than those reared in standard cages. The developmental progression of these behavioral and neural circuitry changes has not been characterized. We assessed the development of repetitive behavior in deer mice using both a longitudinal and cohort design. Repeated testing negated the expected effect of EE, but cohort analyses showed that progression of repetitive behavior was arrested after 1 week of EE and differed significantly from controls after 3 weeks. Moreover, EE reductions in repetitive behavior were associated with increasing activation of indirect pathway nuclei in males across adolescence, but not females. These findings provide the first assessment of developmental trajectories within EE and support indirect pathway mediation of repetitive behavior in male deer mice.