About this Research Topic
Environmental Enrichment (EE) is an improvement in the housing conditions of the laboratory animals. It is characterized by enhanced sensorial, motor, cognitive and social stimulation by increasing the home cage size, as well as providing novel and attractive objects in a frequent way to the rodents. This protocol has shown important benefits not only on the welfare, mood and cognition of healthy animals, but also on experimental models of different pathological conditions, such as neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury, and cancer, or more psychological diseases such as addiction, stress and depression. However, the behavioural and neuropharmacological mechanisms by which EE induces these beneficial effects are yet highly unknown and recent studies have started to focus their attention on epigenetic changes. Therefore, gene-environment interactions may be an intermediary step in providing an appropriate response to changes in the environment. For instance, there is some evidence that environmental factors are able to promote changes in DNA methylation in a gene/promoter-specific manner and this process seems to play an important role in controlling gene expression involved in learning and memory or hypothalamic-pituitary axis functioning. Similarly, other epigenetic mechanisms, i.e., alterations of histone proteins, are essential for hippocampal synaptic plasticity and cognitive function and these mechanisms could constitute potential drug targets in the future.
Different factors, as for example, the species and strain of the animals, their genetic background, age, sex, or timing of the interventions, can influence the results obtained when evaluating effects of EE administered alone or in interaction with pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. There are many variations to be considered when applying these paradigms, so that some controversy may arise in this regard.
Taking these questions into account, this Research Topic encompasses all type of original research articles and reviews about possible epigenetic mechanisms underlying the effects induced by EE on healthy and unhealthy behaviours. We are also interested in studies about the environmental influence on the expression of potential drug targets through the epigenome and the implications this has for pharmacological interventions in different animal models. The Research Topic is also open to those studies, emphasizing both the challenges (seeking a standardised EE model, reproducibility of the results, animal welfare…) and limitations (number of animals, new regulations on the maintenance and care of laboratory animals, methodological questions…) that raises the implementation of enriched environments in experimental studies with rodents. In addition, studies about the interaction between drug administration and enriched environments as well as different applications and possibilities related to EE as a treatment could be considered, as well as new challenges related to this topic. Besides, we are not only interested in preclinical studies and neuropharmacological mechanisms, but also in clinical studies which analyse the influence of impoverished and enriched environments on human behaviour and cognition. Recent research has suggested that EE can act as a therapy in different contexts (stress, addiction, brain aging, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders…) and it is also an interesting field we hope to be explored.
Different factors, as for example, the species and strain of the animals, their genetic background, age, sex, or timing of the interventions, can influence the results obtained when evaluating effects of EE administered alone or in interaction with pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. There are many variations to be considered when applying these paradigms, so that some controversy may arise in this regard.
Taking these questions into account, this Research Topic encompasses all type of original research articles and reviews about possible epigenetic mechanisms underlying the effects induced by EE on healthy and unhealthy behaviours. We are also interested in studies about the environmental influence on the expression of potential drug targets through the epigenome and the implications this has for pharmacological interventions in different animal models. The Research Topic is also open to those studies, emphasizing both the challenges (seeking a standardised EE model, reproducibility of the results, animal welfare…) and limitations (number of animals, new regulations on the maintenance and care of laboratory animals, methodological questions…) that raises the implementation of enriched environments in experimental studies with rodents. In addition, studies about the interaction between drug administration and enriched environments as well as different applications and possibilities related to EE as a treatment could be considered, as well as new challenges related to this topic. Besides, we are not only interested in preclinical studies and neuropharmacological mechanisms, but also in clinical studies which analyse the influence of impoverished and enriched environments on human behaviour and cognition. Recent research has suggested that EE can act as a therapy in different contexts (stress, addiction, brain aging, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders…) and it is also an interesting field we hope to be explored.
Keywords: Environmental enrichment, rodents, epigenetics, early experience, neurodegenerative diseases
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