Long-lasting housing environment manipulation and acute loss of environmental enrichment impact BALB/c mice behaviour in multiple functional domains

Momoe Sukegawa, Toru Yoshihara, Shengqun Hou, Masahide Asano, Anthony J. Hannan, Dan Ohtan Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Understanding environmental influences on individuals' behaviour is challenging. Here we have investigated the housing impact of 9 weeks of enriched environment (EE) and social isolation (SI) and the impact of abrupt deprivation of EE (enrichment removal: ER) on BALB/c mice. Compared with the widely used C57BL/6 strain in research, BALB/c synthesises serotonin less efficiently due to a genetic variation and thus may potentially represent human populations at higher risk of stress-related disorders. We assessed the effects of EE and SI by conducting a behavioural test battery and the effects of acute ER by monitoring homecage activities and social behaviour. We found that EE and SI impact BALB/c's physiological states and behavioural performances from lower to higher cognitive processes: increased body weight, increased rectal temperature, altered performance in motor and sensory tasks, the activity level in a novel environment and altered performance in tests of anxiety-like behaviour, stress-coping strategies and learning and memory. Furthermore, acute ER triggered stress/frustration-like behaviour in BALB/c, with increased aggression, increased social distancing and disrupted daily/nightly activities. Our results demonstrate that long-lasting housing manipulation such as EE and SI, impact behaviour via multilayered processes over a wide range of functional domains, and unforeseen change to a negative environment, ER, is a major stressor that causes behavioural and psychological consequences through environment–gene interactions, a model of direct relevance to human health.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1118-1140
Number of pages23
JournalEuropean Journal of Neuroscience
Volume55
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2022

Keywords

  • BALB/c
  • behavioural test battery
  • enriched environment
  • enrichment removal
  • social isolation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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