Influence of enriched environment on viral encephalitis outcomes: behavioral and neuropathological changes in albino Swiss mice.

ABSTRACT: An enriched environment has previously been described as enhancing natural killer cell activity of recognizing and killing virally infected cells. However, the effects of environmental enrichment on behavioral changes in relation to virus clearance and the neuropathology of encephalitis have not been studied in detail. We tested the hypothesis that environmental enrichment leads to less CNS neuroinvasion and/or more rapid viral clearance in association with T cells without neuronal damage. Stereology-based estimates of activated microglia perineuronal nets and neurons in CA3 were correlated with behavioral changes in the Piry rhabdovirus model of encephalitis in the albino Swiss mouse. Two-month-old female mice maintained in impoverished (IE) or enriched environments (EE) for 3 months were

SUBMITTER: de Sousa AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3019164 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature