Impact of Exposure to Environmental Enrichment on the Anxiety-Like Behavior of Ovariectomized Mice
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Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the influence of short-term (2-week) exposure to social (SE) and/or physical enrichment (PE) on the anxiety-like behavior of ovariectomized (OVX) NIH Swiss mice.
Method: One week after surgery, each OVX mouse was housed under one of 4 social conditions: (1) isolated, (2) accompanied by an intact female, (3) accompanied by an intact male, or (4) in a community of 10 OVX individuals. The animals in each of these environments were divided into 2 subgroups, consisting of the presence and absence of PE. Following a 2-week exposure to the respective conditions, each OVX mouse was subjected to either the light/dark exploration test (LDT) or the elevated plus maze (EPM) to examine anxiety-like behavior.
Results: The LDT and EPM showed very similar patterns. Compared to an impoverished environment, PE elicited a significant anxiolytic effect for OVX mice housed alone or in companion of an intact female (F [1, 54] = 16.11, P = 0.001). By contrast, mice living in community but without PE displayed anxiogenic-like behavior, perhaps due to crowding, compared to the animals living in isolation (F [1, 36] = 5.64, P = 0.023).
Conclusion: This study emphasized the importance of taking housing conditions into account during the screening of new anxiolytic agents and the critical role of OVX in the regulation of anxiety.
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| Issue | Vol 15 No 1 (2020) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/ijps.v15i1.2443 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Anxiety-Like Behavior Ovariectomized Mice Physical Enrichment Social Enrichment | ||
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