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Review
. 2014 Sep 2:8:156.
doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00156. eCollection 2014.

Environmental enrichment and the sensory brain: the role of enrichment in remediating brain injury

Dasuni S Alwis  1 , Ramesh Rajan  1
Affiliations
Review

Environmental enrichment and the sensory brain: the role of enrichment in remediating brain injury

Dasuni S Alwis et al. Front Syst Neurosci. .

Abstract

The brain's life-long capacity for experience-dependent plasticity allows adaptation to new environments or to changes in the environment, and to changes in internal brain states such as occurs in brain damage. Since the initial discovery by Hebb (1947) that environmental enrichment (EE) was able to confer improvements in cognitive behavior, EE has been investigated as a powerful form of experience-dependent plasticity. Animal studies have shown that exposure to EE results in a number of molecular and morphological alterations, which are thought to underpin changes in neuronal function and ultimately, behavior. These consequences of EE make it ideally suited for investigation into its use as a potential therapy after neurological disorders, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this review, we aim to first briefly discuss the effects of EE on behavior and neuronal function, followed by a review of the underlying molecular and structural changes that account for EE-dependent plasticity in the normal (uninjured) adult brain. We then extend this review to specifically address the role of EE in the treatment of experimental TBI, where we will discuss the demonstrated sensorimotor and cognitive benefits associated with exposure to EE, and their possible mechanisms. Finally, we will explore the use of EE-based rehabilitation in the treatment of human TBI patients, highlighting the remaining questions regarding the effects of EE.

Keywords: EE; neuronal excitability; sensory cortices; traumatic brain injury.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Environmental enrichment induces morphological and molecular changes in the brain. An overview of the number of structural and molecular mechanisms that contribute to the changes in neuronal function, and ultimately, changes in behavior, seen after EE exposure. These mechanisms are thought to underlie EE-induced neural plasticity.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Behavioral benefits conferred by the timing/duration of EE relative to creation of TBI. The efficacy of EE treatment when administered pre/post-injury is represented by green full-line arrows which indicate EE timing conditions that ameliorated behaviors, while white dashed arrows indicate EE timing conditions that failed to ameliorate behaviors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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