Effects of enriched environment on learning and memory abilities in senescence accelerated-prone 8 mice / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effects of enriched environment on learning and memory abilities in senescence accelerated-prone 8 (SAMP8) mice. Methods: Twenty 3-month-old male SAMP8 mice and 20 male SAMRI mice (normal aging) were randomly divided into 2 groups according to their body weight enriched environment (EE) group and standard environment (SE) group. Animals in the 2 groups were subjected to different environments for 8 weeks. The learning and memory abilities of animals were evaluated by step-down avoidance test and Morris water maze test. Results: The learning and memory abilities of EE group were significantly better than those of SE group in step-down avoidance test(P<0.05 for memory ability). The average latent period of animals in EE group was significantly shorter than that in SE group in Morris water maze test in both SAMP8 and SAMR1 mice(P<0.05 for SAMP8 mice). Spatial probe test revealed that the ability to search for platform of EE group was better than that of SE group. Conclusion: Enriched environmental intervention can improve the learning and memory abilities in senescence SAMP8 mice, especially for memory ability.