Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats
Abstract Environmental enrichment (EE) has positive effects on brain function and behavior in both healthy and behaviorally impaired animals. In earlier studies, we showed that rats exposed to noise during early development exhibited deficits in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus. I...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96119-y |
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| author | Yutian Sun Pengying An Yongjian Cai Wenjing Yang Yue Fang Hui Liu Guimin Zhang Ye Shan Jie Wang Yifan Zhang Xiaoming Zhou |
| author_facet | Yutian Sun Pengying An Yongjian Cai Wenjing Yang Yue Fang Hui Liu Guimin Zhang Ye Shan Jie Wang Yifan Zhang Xiaoming Zhou |
| author_sort | Yutian Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Environmental enrichment (EE) has positive effects on brain function and behavior in both healthy and behaviorally impaired animals. In earlier studies, we showed that rats exposed to noise during early development exhibited deficits in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus. In this study, we investigated whether EE provided during adulthood can reverse such noise-induced impairments. We found that four weeks of EE substantially improved learning and memory in adult female rats exposed to noise during early development. The behavioral changes observed after EE were accompanied by the restoration of parvalbumin-positive (PV+) inhibitory interneurons in the hippocampal subregions. EE also reversed noise-induced reductions in hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic connections, a mechanism essential for learning and memory processing. However, an enriched environment that lacked social interaction had little effect on restoring LTP in noise-exposed rats. These findings suggest that EE effectively mitigates hippocampal impairments that stem from early noise exposure, with social interaction playing a crucial role in this recovery process. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6f4c6676af2745f5b17b2ea989f8163c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-6f4c6676af2745f5b17b2ea989f8163c2025-08-20T03:04:58ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-0115111010.1038/s41598-025-96119-yEnvironmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female ratsYutian Sun0Pengying An1Yongjian Cai2Wenjing Yang3Yue Fang4Hui Liu5Guimin Zhang6Ye Shan7Jie Wang8Yifan Zhang9Xiaoming Zhou10Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityDepartment of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wuhu Hospital, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal UniversityAbstract Environmental enrichment (EE) has positive effects on brain function and behavior in both healthy and behaviorally impaired animals. In earlier studies, we showed that rats exposed to noise during early development exhibited deficits in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus. In this study, we investigated whether EE provided during adulthood can reverse such noise-induced impairments. We found that four weeks of EE substantially improved learning and memory in adult female rats exposed to noise during early development. The behavioral changes observed after EE were accompanied by the restoration of parvalbumin-positive (PV+) inhibitory interneurons in the hippocampal subregions. EE also reversed noise-induced reductions in hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic connections, a mechanism essential for learning and memory processing. However, an enriched environment that lacked social interaction had little effect on restoring LTP in noise-exposed rats. These findings suggest that EE effectively mitigates hippocampal impairments that stem from early noise exposure, with social interaction playing a crucial role in this recovery process.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96119-yNoise exposureEnvironmental enrichmentHippocampus-related behaviorInhibitory interneuronRat |
| spellingShingle | Yutian Sun Pengying An Yongjian Cai Wenjing Yang Yue Fang Hui Liu Guimin Zhang Ye Shan Jie Wang Yifan Zhang Xiaoming Zhou Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats Scientific Reports Noise exposure Environmental enrichment Hippocampus-related behavior Inhibitory interneuron Rat |
| title | Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats |
| title_full | Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats |
| title_fullStr | Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats |
| title_short | Environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats |
| title_sort | environmental enrichment reverses noise induced impairments in learning and memory associated with the hippocampus in female rats |
| topic | Noise exposure Environmental enrichment Hippocampus-related behavior Inhibitory interneuron Rat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96119-y |
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