scholarly journals Selective increases in inter-individual variability in response to environmental enrichment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Körholz ◽  
Sara Zocher ◽  
Anna N. Grzyb ◽  
Benjamin Morisse ◽  
Alexandra Poetzsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Multiple Parameters ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Suitable Animal Model ◽  
Brain And Behavior ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractOne manifestation of individualization is a progressively differential response of individuals to the non-shared components of the same environment. Individualization has practical implications in clinical setting, where subtle differences between patients are often decisive for the success of an intervention, yet there has been no suitable animal model to study its underlying biological mechanisms. Here we show that enriched environment (ENR) can serve as a model of brain individualization. We kept 40 isogenic mice for 3 months in ENR and compared the effects on a wide range of phenotypes on both mean and variance to an equally sized group of standard-housed control animals. While ENR influenced multiple parameters and restructured correlation patterns between them, it only increased differences among individuals in traits related to brain and behavior (adult hippocampal neurogenesis, motor cortex thickness, open field and object exploration, rotarod performance), in agreement with the hypothesis of a specific activity-dependent development of brain individuality.

scholarly journals Selective increases in inter-individual variability in response to environmental enrichment in female mice

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia C Körholz ◽  
Sara Zocher ◽  
Anna N Grzyb ◽  
Benjamin Morisse ◽  
Alexandra Poetzsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Multiple Parameters ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Suitable Animal Model ◽  
Brain And Behavior ◽  
And Behavior

One manifestation of individualization is a progressively differential response of individuals to the non-shared components of the same environment. Individualization has practical implications in the clinical setting, where subtle differences between patients are often decisive for the success of an intervention, yet there has been no suitable animal model to study its underlying biological mechanisms. Here we show that enriched environment (ENR) can serve as a model of brain individualization. We kept 40 isogenic female C57BL/6JRj mice for 3 months in ENR and compared these mice to an equally sized group of standard-housed control animals, looking at the effects on a wide range of phenotypes in terms of both means and variances. Although ENR influenced multiple parameters and restructured correlation patterns between them, it only increased differences among individuals in traits related to brain and behavior (adult hippocampal neurogenesis, motor cortex thickness, open field and object exploration), in agreement with the hypothesis of a specific activity-dependent development of brain individuality.

scholarly journals Fluoxetine effects on behavior and adult hippocampal neurogenesis in female C57BL/6J mice across the estrous cycle

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine N. Yohn ◽  
Sophie Shifman ◽  
Alexander Garino ◽  
Emma Diethorn ◽  
Leshya Bokka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Estrous Cycle ◽  
Antidepressant Treatment ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
List Type ◽  
Female Mice ◽  
Chronic Fluoxetine ◽  
Brain And Behavior ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact

AbstractSome mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder, are more prevalent in women than in men. However, historically preclinical studies in rodents have a lower inclusion rate of females than males, possibly due to the fact that behavior can be affected by the estrous cycle. Several studies have demonstrated that chronic antidepressant treatment can decrease anxiety-like behaviors and increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis in male rodents. However, very few studies have conclusively looked at the effects of antidepressants on behavior and neurogenesis across the estrous cycle in naturally cycling female rodents. Here we analyze the effects of chronic treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine (Prozac) on behavior and adult hippocampal neurogenesis in naturally cycling C57BL/6J females across all four phases of the estrous cycle. Interestingly, we find that the effects of fluoxetine on both behavior and adult hippocampal neurogenesis are driven by mice specifically in the estrus or diestrus phases of the estrous cycle. Taken together our data is the first to illustrate the impact of fluoxetine on brain and behavior across all four stages of the murine estrous cycle.HighlightsChronic fluoxetine reduces anxiety-like behaviors in naturally cycling female miceChronic fluoxetine increases adult hippocampal neurogenesis in naturally cycling female miceThe effects of chronic fluoxetine on behavior and adult hippocampal neurogenesis are driven by the estrus and diestrus phases of the estrous cycle

scholarly journals Enriched Environment Ameliorates Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis Deficits in Tcf4 Haploinsufficient Mice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Braun ◽  
Benjamin M. Häberle ◽  
Marie-Theres Wittmann ◽  
Dieter Chichung Lie
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Knockout Mice ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Nervous System Development ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Enriched Environment ◽  
Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Background: Transcription factor 4 (TCF4) has been linked to human neurodevelopmental disorders such as intellectual disability, Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS), autism, and schizophrenia. Recent work demonstrated that TCF4 participates in the control of a wide range of neurodevelopmental processes in mammalian nervous system development including neural precursor proliferation, timing of differentiation, migration, dendritogenesis and synapse formation. TCF4 is highly expressed in the adult hippocampal dentate gyrus – one of the few brain regions where neural stem / progenitor cells generate new functional neurons throughout life.Results: We here investigated whether TCF4 haploinsufficiency, which in humans causes non-syndromic forms of intellectual disability and PTHS, affects adult hippocampal neurogenesis, a process that is essential for hippocampal plasticity in rodents and potentially in humans. Young adult Tcf4 heterozygote knockout mice showed a major reduction in the level of adult hippocampal neurogenesis, which was at least in part caused by lower stem/progenitor cell numbers and impaired maturation and survival of adult-generated neurons. Interestingly, housing in an enriched environment was sufficient to enhance maturation and survival of new neurons and to substantially augment neurogenesis levels in Tcf4 heterozygote knockout mice.Conclusion: Haploinsufficiency for the transcription factor TCF4 has been linked to non-syndromic intellectual disability and PTHS. The present findings raise the possibility that TCF4 haploinsufficiency may have a continuous negative impact on hippocampal function by impeding hippocampal neurogenesis and suggest that behavioural stimulation may be harnessed to ameliorate a subset of TCF4 haploinsufficiency associated neural deficits during adulthood.

scholarly journals Gonadal steroids, brain, and behavior: role of context

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-137 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mood Disorders ◽  
Steroid Hormones ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
Reproductive Function ◽  
Gonadal Steroids ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Reproductive Endocrine ◽  
Brain And Behavior ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact

The nature and extent of the impact of gender and reproductive function on mood has been the subject of speculation and controversy for centuries. Over the past 50 years, however, it has become increasingly clear that not only is the brain a major target of reproductive steroid hormones, but additionally, the steroid hormones, as neuroregulators, create a context thai influences a broad range of brain activities; ie, neural actions and resultant behaviors are markedly different in the presence and absence of gonadal steroids. In turn, the actions of gonadal steroids are themselves context-dependent. Thus, even where it can be demonstrated thai gonadal steroids trigger mood disorders, the triggers are normal levels of gonadal steroids (to be contrasted with the mood disturbances accompanying endocrinopathies), and the mood disorders appear only in a subset of susceptible individuals. The context specificity and differential susceptibility to affective dysregulation seen in women with reproductive endocrine-related mood disorders are undoubtedly important underlying characteristics of a wide range of psychiatric disorders in which the triggers have not yet been identified. Consequently, reproductive endocrine-related mood disorders offer unparalleled promise for the identification of those contextual variables that permit biological stimuli to differentially translate into depression in individuals at risk.

scholarly journals Differential inhibition onto developing and mature granule cells generates high-frequency filters with variable gain

eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Belén Pardi ◽  
Mora Belén Ogando ◽  
Alejandro F Schinder ◽  
Antonia Marin-Burgin
Keyword(s):  
Granule Cells ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Information Encoding ◽  
High Frequencies ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mature Neurons ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Immature Cells ◽  
Two Populations

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis provides the dentate gyrus with heterogeneous populations of granule cells (GC) originated at different times. The contribution of these cells to information encoding is under current investigation. Here, we show that incoming spike trains activate different populations of GC determined by the stimulation frequency and GC age. Immature GC respond to a wider range of stimulus frequencies, whereas mature GC are less responsive at high frequencies. This difference is dictated by feedforward inhibition, which restricts mature GC activation. Yet, the stronger inhibition of mature GC results in a higher temporal fidelity compared to that of immature GC. Thus, hippocampal inputs activate two populations of neurons with variable frequency filters: immature cells, with wide‐range responses, that are reliable transmitters of the incoming frequency, and mature neurons, with narrow frequency response, that are precise at informing the beginning of the stimulus, but with a sparse activity.

scholarly journals Environmental enrichment preserves a young DNA methylation landscape in the aged mouse hippocampus

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Zocher ◽  
Rupert W. Overall ◽  
Mathias Lesche ◽  
Andreas Dahl ◽  
Gerd Kempermann
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Environmental Enrichment ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Aged Mouse ◽  
Lifestyle Interventions ◽  
Epigenetic Changes ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Age Related

AbstractThe decline of brain function during aging is associated with epigenetic changes, including DNA methylation. Lifestyle interventions can improve brain function during aging, but their influence on age-related epigenetic changes is unknown. Using genome-wide DNA methylation sequencing, we here show that experiencing a stimulus-rich environment counteracts age-related DNA methylation changes in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of mice. Specifically, environmental enrichment prevented the aging-induced CpG hypomethylation at target sites of the methyl-CpG-binding protein Mecp2, which is critical to neuronal function. The genes at which environmental enrichment counteracted aging effects have described roles in neuronal plasticity, neuronal cell communication and adult hippocampal neurogenesis and are dysregulated with age-related cognitive decline in the human brain. Our results highlight the stimulating effects of environmental enrichment on hippocampal plasticity at the level of DNA methylation and give molecular insights into the specific aspects of brain aging that can be counteracted by lifestyle interventions.

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