Modification of AMPA receptor properties following environmental enrichment.

Environmental enrichment results in many modifications in the brain such as structural, behavioural, and biochemical changes. alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-type receptors for excitatory amino acid glutamate are recently found to be involved in neuronal plasticity. In this study, we examined whether environmental enrichment modified the brain expression of mRNA for subunit composition of AMPA receptors in adult mice using the real-time quantitative PCR method and western blotting.

An enriched environment increases noradrenaline concentration in the mouse brain.

Exposure to an enriched environment has been shown to have many positive effects on brain structure and function. In the present study, we examined the effects of environmental enrichment on monoaminergic neurons in the mouse brain. After being exposed to an enriched environment for 40 days, noradrenaline content was increased significantly in the parieto-temporo-occipital cortex, the cerebellum and the pons/medulla oblongata.