Effects of social isolation and enriched environment on behavior of adult Swiss mice do not require hippocampal neurogenesis

Housing conditions are important determinants of animal behavior. Their impact on behavioral output depends on the behavior of interest, species, strain, and age of the animal evaluated. In the present study, male Swiss mice reared from weaning up to 8 weeks in social isolation (SI8), in enriched environment (EE8) or in standard environment (SE8) were evaluated in the elevated plus-maze (EPM), open-field (OFT) and tail-suspension (TST) tests. The effect of housing for 6 weeks in EE followed by 2 weeks in SI (EE6SI2) and the opposite condition (SI6EE2) was also studied. Housing conditions are reported to affect hippocampal neurogenesis; therefore, the expression of doublecortin (DCX) in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (DG) of these mice was monitored. Data showed that SI8, EE8 and EE6SI2 reduced the stretching-attend postures in the EPM and explored more the center of the apparatus when compared to SE8. The time and the number of entries in the closed arms of the EPM was not affected indicating that effects of housing conditions in the EPM were not consequence of motor activity alteration. Accordingly, EE8 mice exploration of the OFT was similar to SE8. However, the SI8 mice explored the OFT more than the EE8 mice, suggesting hyperactivity induced by isolation. Behavior of Swiss mice in the TST was not altered, indicating that this test was not sensitive to the environmental changes in this mice strain. Compared to SE8, EE8 did not affect the number of DCX cells, whereas SI8, EE6SI2, and SI6EE2 decreased it. Taken together, our data suggest that the behavior of adult Swiss mice in the EPM and OFT was affected by environmental changes but that these changes seem to be independent of hippocampal neurogenesis.

► Enriched and impoverished rearing reduced risk assessment in elevated plus-maze.
► Isolation rearing induced hyperactivity in open field test.
► Enrichment and impoverishment failed to affect performance in tail suspension test.
► Enrichment failed to affect neurogenesis in adult male Swiss mice hippocampus.
► Isolation reduced newborn neurons in hippocampus of adult male Swiss mice.