ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2009
Additive effects of physical exercise and environmental enrichment on adult hippocampal neurogenesis in mice.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 212 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
212 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 422 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of exercise on cognitive function in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the mediating role of sleep.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of combined aerobic and resistance exercise on metabolic blood biomarkers and quality of life in patients with breast cancer: a systematic review meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of motor-cognitive training on cognitive function and gait performance in older adults with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Environmental enrichment: a systematic review on the effect of a changing spatial complexity on hippocampal neurogenesis and plasticity in rodents, with considerations for translation to urban and built environments for humans.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- The effect of combined cognitive intervention and physical exercise on cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Pooled it
- Bored at home?-A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Pooled it
- Dance activity interventions targeting cognitive functioning in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- The Effects of Combined Physical and Cognitive Training on Inhibitory Control: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of Combined Cognitive and Exercise Interventions on Poststroke Cognitive Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.BioMed research international · 2021Pooled it
- Physical activity to improve cognition in older adults: can physical activity programs enriched with cognitive challenges enhance the effects? A systematic review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2018Pooled it
- Aerobic Exercise Improves Cognitive Functioning in People With Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2017Pooled it
- Influence of combined physical and cognitive training on cognition: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2016Pooled it
- Effects of Exercise Interventions and Physical Activity Behavior on Cancer Related Cognitive Impairments: A Systematic Review.BioMed research international · 2016Pooled it
- A Physical Exercise Program Significantly Boosts the Impact of Cognitive Training on Attention Deficits After a First Episode of Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Trial
- Effects of dance mindfulness and combined interventions on social anxiety in left behind rural adolescents: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
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- A combined exercise and cognitive training intervention induces fronto-cingulate cortical plasticity in first-episode psychosis patients.Schizophrenia research · 2023Trial
- Effect of physical exercise on the hippocampus and global grey matter volume in breast cancer patients: A randomized controlled trial (PAM study).NeuroImage. Clinical · 2023Trial
152 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Voluntary physical exercise (wheel running, RUN) and environmental enrichment both stimulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis but do so by different mechanisms. RUN induces precursor cell proliferation, whereas ENR exerts a survival-promoting effect on newborn cells. In addition, continued RUN prevented the physiologically occurring age-related decline in precursor cell in the dentate gyrus but did not lead to a corresponding increase in net neurogenesis. We hypothesized that in the absence of appropriate cognitive stimuli the potential for neurogenesis could not be realized but that an increased potential by proliferating precursor cells due to RUN could actually lead to more adult neurogenesis if an appropriate survival-promoting stimulus follows the exercise. We thus asked whether a sequential combination of RUN and ENR (RUNENR) would show additive effects that are distinct from the application of either paradigm alone. We found that the effects of 10 days of RUN followed by 35 days of ENR were additive in that the combined stimulation yielded an approximately 30% greater increase in new neurons than either stimulus alone, which also increased neurogenesis. Surprisingly, this result indicates that although overall the amount of proliferating cells in the dentate gyrus is poorly predictive of net adult neurogenesis, an increased neurogenic potential nevertheless provides the basis for a greater efficiency of the same survival-promoting stimulus. We thus propose that physical activity can "prime" the neurogenic region of the dentate gyrus for increased neurogenesis in the case the animal is exposed to an additional cognitive stimulus, here represented by the enrichment paradigm.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.