Environmental enrichment restores neurogenesis and rapid acquisition in aged rats.

Strategies combatting cognitive decline among the growing aging population are vital. We tested whether environmental enrichment could reverse age-impaired rapid spatial search strategy acquisition concomitantly with hippocampal neurogenesis in rats. Young (5-8 months) and aged (20-22 months) male Fischer 344 rats were pair-housed and exposed to environmental enrichment (n = 7 young, 9 aged) or housed individually (n = 7 young, 7 aged) for 10 weeks.