Abstract
Environmental enrichment results in many modifications in the brain such as structural,
behavioural, and biochemical changes. α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic
acid (AMPA)-type receptors for excitatory amino acid glutamate are recently found
to be involved in neuronal plasticity. In this study, we examined whether environmental
enrichment modified the brain expression of mRNA for subunit composition of AMPA receptors
in adult mice using the real-time quantitative PCR method and western blotting. Mice
housed in enriched environments showed significantly higher levels of GluR2 and GluR4
subunits in the hippocampus compared to control mice. We concluded that environmental
enrichment can change the expression of AMPA receptor subunits and thus might modify
the potentials of brain plasticity.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
July 6,
2004
Received in revised form:
May 10,
2004
Received:
July 31,
2003
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
