Physical exercise is required for environmental enrichment to offset the quantitative effects of dark-rearing on the S-100beta astrocytic density in the rat visual cortex - PubMed (original) (raw)

Physical exercise is required for environmental enrichment to offset the quantitative effects of dark-rearing on the S-100beta astrocytic density in the rat visual cortex

Enrike G Argandoña et al. J Anat. 2009 Aug.

Erratum in

J Anat. 2010 Mar;216(3):420

Abstract

After birth, exposure to visual inputs modulates cortical development, inducing numerous changes in all of the components of the visual cortex. Most of the cortical changes thus induced occur during what is called the critical period. Astrocytes play an important role in the development, maintenance and plasticity of the cortex as well as in the structure and function of the vascular network. Visual deprivation induces a decrease in the astroglial population, whereas enhanced experience increases it. Exposure to an enriched environment has been shown to prevent the effects of dark-rearing in the visual cortex. Our purpose was to study the effects of an enriched environment on the density of astrocytes per reference surface at the visual cortex of dark-reared rats, in order to determine if enhanced experience is able to compensate the quantitative effects of visual deprivation and the role of physical exercise on the enrichment paradigm. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were raised in one of the following rearing conditions: control rats with standard housing (12-h light/dark cycle); in total darkness for the dark-rearing experiments; and dark-rearing in conditions of enriched environment without and with physical exercise. The astrocytic density was estimated by immunohistochemistry for S-100beta protein. Quantifications were performed in layer IV. The somatosensorial cortex barrel field was also studied as control. The volume of layer IV was stereologically calculated for each region, age and experimental condition. From the beginning of the critical period, astrocyte density was higher in control rats than in the enriched environment group without physical exercise, with densities of astrocytes around 20% higher at all of the different ages. In contrast, when the animals had access to voluntary exercise, densities were significantly higher than even the control rats. Our main result shows that strategies to apply environmental enrichment should always consider the incorporation of physical exercise, even for sensorial areas such as the visual area, where complex enriched experience by itself is not enough to compensate the effects of visual deprivation.

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Figures

Fig. 1

Photographs of haematoxylin/eosin-stained coronal sections containing the primary somatosensory cortex (left image) and the primary visual cortex (right image). Surrounding pictures show both cortices where interfaces between layers are indicated by lines (these lines serve as scale bars = 100 µm). M, medial side of the cortex; L, lateral side of the cortex.

Fig. 2

(A)S-100β positivity throughout the primary somatosensory cortex barrel field at postnatal day (P)28 in control rats and the placement of the counting grid in layer IV. Scale bar = 100 µm. (B) S-100β positivity throughout the primary visual cortex at P28 in control rats and the placement of the counting grid in layer IV. Scale bar = 100 µm. (C) Astroglial density was measured by counting the number of positive cells per area delimited by an overlying grid, excluding those intersected by both the X and Y axes. Grid side, 250 µm; grid area, 62 00 µm2; M, medial side of the cortex; L, lateral side of the cortex.

Fig. 3

Comparison of average measurements between DR, DR-EE, DR-EE-Ex and control (C) groups at each of the ages considered. Horizontal axis shows the age of the animals. Vertical axis shows S-100β-positive astrocyte density per 62 500 µm2 of primary visual cortex (mean ± SEM). (a) C vs. DR significance; (b) C vs. DR-EE significance; (c) C vs. DR-EE-Ex significance (P ≤ 0.05) (one-way

anova

test with posthoc correction). P, postnatal day.

Fig. 4

Comparison of average measurements between DR, DR-EE, DR-EE-Ex and control (C) groups at each of the ages considered. Horizontal axis shows the age of the animals. Vertical axis shows S-100β-positive astrocyte density per 62 500 µm2 of primary somatosensory cortex barrel field (mean ± SEM). (a) C vs. DR significance; (b) C vs. DR-EE significance; (c) C vs. DR-EE-Ex significance (P ≤ 0.05) (one-way

anova

test with posthoc correction). P, postnatal day.

Fig. 5

Comparison of average measurements between DR, DR-EE, DR-EE-Ex and control (C) groups at each of the ages considered. Horizontal axis shows the age of the animals. Vertical axis shows primary visual cortex layer IV volume (mm3) (mean ± SEM). (a) C vs. DR significance; (b) C vs. DR-EE significance; (c) C vs. DR-EE-Ex significance (P ≤ 0.05) (one-way

anova

test with posthoc correction). P, postnatal day.

Fig. 6

Comparison of average measurements between DR, DR-EE, DR-EE-Ex and control (C) groups at each of the ages considered. Horizontal axis shows the age of the animals. Vertical axis shows primary somatosensory cortex barrel field volume (mm3) (mean ± SEM). (a) C vs. DR significance; (b) C vs. DR-EE significance; (c) C vs. DR-EE-Ex significance (P ≤ 0.05) (one-way

anova

test with posthoc correction). P, postnatal day.

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Physical exercise is required for environmental enrichment to offset the quantitative effects of dark-rearing on the S-100beta astrocytic density in the rat visual cortex - PubMed (original) (raw)