ArticleBio-protocol2020
Enriched Environment Procedures for Rodents: Creating a Standardized Protocol for Diverse Enrichment to Improve Consistency across Research Studies.
Article in Bio-protocol, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effect of environmental enrichment on behavioral and morphological outcomes following neonatal hypoxia-ischemia in rodent models: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular neurobiology · 2022Pooled it
- Environmental enrichment as a mitochondria-targeting systems strategy across neurodegenerative diseases and retinal dystrophies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Environmental Enrichment and Epigenetic Changes in the Brain: From the Outside to the Deep Inside.Sub-cellular biochemistry · 2025Review
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of physical environmental enrichment to improve animal welfare-related outcomes in indoor cattle.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Review
- Effects of environmental enrichment and caloric restriction on hippocampal changes in early adult rats.Journal of Korean biological nursing science · 2024Article
- Article
- 3R-Refinement principles: elevating rodent well-being and research quality.Laboratory animal research · 2024Review
- An Understated Comorbidity: The Impact of Homelessness on Traumatic Brain Injury.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2023Review
- Enriched Environment Induces Sex-Specific Changes in the Adult Neurogenesis, Cytokine and miRNA Expression in Rat Hippocampus.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Challenges in Translating Regenerative Therapies for Spinal Cord Injury.Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitation · 2023Article
- The systemic effects of the enriched environment on the conditioned fear reaction.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2023Review
- The impact of early-life environment on absence epilepsy and neuropsychiatric comorbidities.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2022Review
- The Sedentary Lifestyle and Masticatory Dysfunction: Time to Review the Contribution to Age-Associated Cognitive Decline and Astrocyte Morphotypes in the Dentate Gyrus.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Investigating Fractal Analysis as a Diagnostic Tool That Probes the Connectivity of Hippocampal Neurons.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Exposure to environmental enrichment has beneficial effects on learning and memory, diverse neurobiological effects, and promotes recovery of function after brain injury. The effect of enrichment is produced by a combination of increased social interaction, physical activity, spatial complexity, and novelty. Procedures in the literature have, however, been idiosyncratic with poor consistency in the manner or extent to which protocols provide consistent enrichment. We provide an environmental enrichment protocol that can be easily replicated with minor details determined locally so that animals across cohorts and cages all experience a comparable level of enrichment. Procedures are outlined to generate and use a daily pool of suitably varied objects using a standardized format, with objects systematically varied up to a 40-day continuous period. Together with using a large group of rats in a suitably-sized cage, and regular shifting of the position of food and water and cage location, these procedures have produced robust effects in different laboratories and rat strain, thereby improving comparisons within and across laboratories. Non-enriched comparisons can vary, but typically would include grouped animals in standard laboratory housing without objects and with stable food and water locations. Enrichment is a safe non-pharamacological tool to examine behavioral and neurobiological processes in animal models of the lifespan, brain dysfunction and injury.
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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.