Environmental enrichment prevents acute restraint stress-induced anxiety-related behavior but not changes in basolateral amygdala spine density

Either acute restraint stress (2  h) or systemic injection of corticosterone (CORT, a rodent GC) in rats leads to anxiety-like behavior and dendritic branches remodeling in the BLA 10- 12 days later (Mitra et al., 2005; Mitra and Sapolsky, 2008). In a previous study, we found that exposure to EE prevented anxiety-related behavior in adult rats observed immediately after acute restraint stress, but it is not yet known whether EE affects the persistent effects of acute stress (Novaes et al., 2017).

Source: Psychoneuroendocrinology - August 1, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Leonardo Santana Novaes, Nilton Barreto dos Santos, Juliano Genaro Perfetto, Ki Ann Goosens, Carolina Demarchi Munhoz Tags: Short Communication Source Type: research