ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT IMPROVES SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN A MURINE MODEL OF CHRONIC TOXOPLASMOSIS

TADEO AMATO1, FLORENCIA ANDRÉS1, NADIA JUSTEL2, ; MARTIN, VALENTINA; SANCHEZ, VANESA R

Congreso; REUNIÓN DE ANUAL DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIAS 2022 - SAI FAIC; 2022

At the chronic stage of T. gondii infection, tissue cysts are located mainly in SNC. There are no treatments able to eliminate these resistant structures or to reduce the adverse effects associated with the infection. Currently, accumulated evidence links chronic infection with different pathologies, including neurocognitive and behavioral conditions. Herein, we study the effect of environmental enrichment (EE) as a non-invasive therapy against chronic toxoplasmosis and the impaired social behavior associated.METHODS: The EE therapy involves increasing the available space and the addition of novel elements in the habitat. A three-chamber sociability device where a naive mouse (stranger) was placed was used to evaluate social abilities of C57BL/6 chronically infected treated (TE) or untreated (T) mice. The data was analyzed with t-student test. Brain cyst burden was evaluated at the end of the assay. RESULTS: The results indicate that the EE treatment on infected mice improved its social ability measured as time of active contacts between the test mouse and novel mouse (TE vs T; p=0,0276). Indeed, TE mice showed higher exploration of the novel subject than T mice (up to 1,7-fold higher; p=0,0033). Moreover, 75% of TE mice showed a first impulse to approach that area while only 25% of T mice showed this behavior. Chronically infected treated mice showed a significantly better discrimination index compared to T group (p = 0,0443). All these data evidence that EE treatment improves social abilities in mice. Nevertheless, TE brain parasite load was similar to the T group.CONCLUSIONS: This environmental enrichment therapy showed a positive impact in social behavior, showing its potential to deal with the harmful effects of chronic toxoplasmosis, improving well-being of the affected individuals and the social environment that surrounds them and in which they develop. This type of non-invasive therapy could be easily incorporated into translational medicine approaches.