Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of rat housing conditions—standard conditions, social isolation, environmental enrichment—and the subsequent reversal of these conditions on the vulnerability of the gastric mucosa to ulcerogenic stimuli, somatic pain sensitivity, and treadmill work capacity. Rats, aged 30 days, were placed in standard conditions (SC), social isolation (Is), and environmental enrichment (EE) for 4 weeks. Then half of each group underwent a reversal of housing conditions: SC rats were moved to Is, Is rats were placed in EE, EE rats were moved to Is, for 2 weeks. The other half served as a control with no change in their initial housing. Two weeks after the reversal, vulnerability of the gastric mucosa to ulcerogenic action of indomethacin (IM, 35 mg/kg, sc), somatic pain sensitivity (hot plate test), and work capacity (measured by the running distance on a treadmill) were assessed in control and reversed groups. Social isolation induced a proulcerogenic effect, increasing IM-induced gastric erosions, which was effectively reversed when rats were transferred to an environmental enrichment. Conversely, transferring rats from an environmental enrichment to social isolation exacerbated ulcerogenic action of IM. Somatic pain sensitivity and treadmill work capacity were also influenced by housing conditions, with environmental enrichment showing positive effects. The present findings show that social isolation of rats induces a proulcerogenic effect. Environmental enrichment reverses proulcerogenic action of social isolation on the gastric mucosa and increases resilience to pain stimuli and treadmill work capacity.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available due to reasons of sensitivity and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- IM:
-
Indomethacin
- Is:
-
Isolation
- EE:
-
Environmental enrichment
- SC:
-
Standard conditions
- PLL:
-
Paw lick latency
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Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (agreement No. 075-15-2020-921 for the creation and development of the world-class scientific center “Pavlov Center “Integrative Physiology—to medicine, high-tech healthcare and technologies of stress resistance”).
Funding
The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement No. 075-15-2022-303/ 21.04.2022) for the creation and development of the world-class scientific center “Pavlov Center “Integrative Physiology—to medicine, high-tech healthcare and technologies of stress resistance”.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Natalia Yarushkina, Olga Komkova, Olga Morozova, and Polina Punina. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ludmila Flaretova and Natalia Yarushkina and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The experimental procedures were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology (Animal Welfare Assurance #A5952-01). Protocols were designed in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and complied with the International Association for the Study of Pain guidelines on the use of laboratory animals.
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Filaretova, L.P., Komkova, O.P., Morozova, O.Y. et al. Environmental enrichment reverses proulcerogenic action of social isolation on the gastric mucosa and positively influences pain sensitivity and work capacity. Inflammopharmacol 32, 909–915 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-024-01451-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-024-01451-w