Rearing in an enriched environmente can prevent most behavioral alterations induced by acute noise exposure, independently from the exposure age

MOLINA, SJ; SAINT-MARTIN, M; CAPANI, F; GUELMAN, LR

Huerta Grande, Córdoba

Congreso; XXIX Annual Meeting Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2014

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

In previous studies we showed that exposure of 15-days-old rats to noise during 2 h can induce hippocampus-related alterations, including changes in anxiety-like behaviors. Nevertheless, no data on the behavioral effects induced in rats of different ages have been obtained yet. Moreover, as the use of strategies of neuroprotection has not been explored in our model, rearing noise-exposed animals in an enriched environment (EE) was used. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to test if EE can prevent behavioral changes induced by exposure to noise at different ages. Rats of 7 and 15 days were exposed during 2 h to white noise (95-97 dB) for one day. After weaning, groups of 3-4 rats were transferred to an enriched cage, consisting of toys, a wheel, tunnels and ramps, while other groups were placed in standard cages. One week later, different behavioral tests were performed. Results show that rats exposed at 7 days had a better performance in associative memory task, whereas no significant changes were found in rats exposed at 15 days. On the other hand, a decrease in anxiety-like behaviors was observed in both groups. EE rearing almost fully prevented these noise-induced behavioral changes. These findings suggest that although behavioral differences between noise-exposed animals at different ages were observed, significant changes might be generated after visual, social and/or physical stimulation during the peri-adolescence period, independently of the exposure age.