Abbreviated environmental enrichment confers neurobehavioral, cognitive, and histological benefits in brain-injured female rats.

Environmental enrichment (EE) promotes behavioral recovery after experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the chronic rehabilitation provided in the laboratory is not analogous to the clinic where physiotherapy is typically limited. Moreover, females make up approximately 40% of the clinical TBI population, yet they are seldom studied in brain trauma. Hence, the goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that abbreviated EE would confer neurobehavioral, cognitive, and histological benefits in brain injured female rats. Anesthetized rats received a cortical impact of moderate-to-severe injury (2.8mm tissue deformation at 4m/s) or sham surgery and then were randomly assigned to groups receiving standard (STD) housing or 4h, 6h, or 24h of EE daily. Motor function (beam-balance/walk and rotarod) was assessed on post-operative days 1-5 and every other day from 1 to 19, respectively. Spatial learning/memory (Morris water maze) was evaluated on days 14-19, and cortical lesion volume was quantified on day 21. No statistical differences were appreciated among the sham controls in any assessment and thus the data were pooled. All EE conditions improved motor function and memory retention, but only 6h and 24h enhanced spatial learning relative to STD (p<0.05). Moreover, EE, regardless of duration reduced cortical lesion volume (p<0.05). These data confirm that abbreviated EE confers robust neurobehavioral, cognitive, and histological benefits in TBI female rats, which supports the hypothesis and strengthens the utility of EE as a pre-clinical model of neurorehabilitation.