Intensification of swine production can predispose pigs to chronic stress, with adverse effects on the neuroendocrine and immune systems that can lead to health problems, poor welfare, and reduced production performance. Consequently, there is an interest in developing tools to prevent or eliminate chronic stress. Music is widely used as a therapeutic strategy for stress management in humans and may have similar benefits in non-human animals. This study evaluated the effects of a music-based auditory enrichment program in pigs from a multidimensional perspective by assessing psychophysiological responses. Two experimental groups of 20 pigs each were selected for the study: one enriched, exposed to a program of functional veterinary music designed for pigs, and a control group without auditory stimulation. Qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) and skin lesions indicative of agonistic behavior were used to evaluate the psychological determinants underlying the observed behaviors. Physiological assessment included hemograms, with the determination of the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio and daily measurements of cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase levels. The results demonstrated a positive effect of a music-based auditory program on psychophysiological responses. Therefore, this strategy developed for environmental enrichment may be beneficial in reducing stress and contributing to the welfare and health of pigs under production conditions.

Environmental enrichment is about improving the surroundings in which your animal lives by providing opportunities to express behavioral activity normally, which in turn has a great impact on the animal\'s welfare and productivity. The aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of using different enrichment cage tools (a rubber floor, plastic-colored balls, and a mirror) on rabbits\' physiology, productivity, carcass quality, behavior, and welfare. A total of 84 weaned rabbits (V-line) were randomly and equally assigned to 4 groups, each with 7 replicates (3 rabbits/replicate). The 1st rabbit group (T1) served as a control, while the 2nd group (T2) was enriched with rubber floors. The 3rd group (T3) was enriched with plastic-colored balls, and the 4th group (T4) was enriched with mirrors. Productive traits, including the weekly body weight and feed intake, as well as the carcass characteristics, were measured. Hematological parameters and biochemical constituents were determined according to the reference\'s description. Furthermore, behavioral activities, such as walking, resting, feeding, and drinking, were observed. According to the results, enriching the rabbit cages with plastic-colored balls and mirrors improved the marketing body weight and feed conversion rate. It also improved carcass quality characteristics, such as the carcass weight and dressing percentage. The T3 and T4 rabbits had higher RBCS, Hb, and hematocrit levels as well as lower WBCS levels. They also had significantly higher total protein, globulin, glucose, AST, and IgG values than other treatments. In addition, they had significantly lower corticosterone levels and fear responses. Therefore, it is recommended to use plastic-colored balls and mirrors for rabbit farming for better productivity, behavior, and welfare.

Rearing rats in environmental enrichment produces a protective effect when exposed to stimulants, as enriched rats display attenuated cocaine seeking during reinstatement. However, less is known about what changes in the brain are responsible for this protective effect. The current study investigated differences in Fos protein expression following reinstatement of cocaine seeking in differentially reared rats. Rats were reared in either enriched (EC) or impoverished (IC) conditions for 30 days, after which rats self-administered cocaine in 2-h sessions. Following self-administration, rats underwent extinction and cue-induced or cocaine-primed reinstatement of cocaine seeking, brains were extracted, and Fos immunohistochemistry was performed. IC rats sought cocaine significantly more than EC rats during cue-induced reinstatement, and cocaine seeking was positively correlated with Fos expression in the nucleus accumbens core and ventral pallidum. IC rats displayed greater Fos expression than EC rats in the accumbens and ventral pallidum, suggesting a role of these areas in the enrichment-induced protective effect.

Male Zucker Diabetic Sprague Dawley rats were housed in standard individually ventilated cages with floor area of 1500 cm2, and were placed in a \'playcage\' (a large open cage) for three visits per week from the age of 16-18 weeks. The playcage was introduced in an attempt to reverse the compulsive behaviour that the rats displayed in the individually ventilated cages, with the purpose to increase their well-being and to provide cognitive as well as physical stimulation. After two weeks of periodic stays in the playcage, the rats\' repetitive behaviour in their home cage ceased, and the rats displayed signs of happiness and excitement when they were in the playcage. The observations strongly indicate that periodic stays in a larger playcage can be an alternative environmental enrichment for laboratory rats when housing in a larger home cage is not an option.

BACKGROUND: Compulsive- and anxiety-like behaviour can be efficiently modelled in SAPAP3 knockout (KO) mice, a preclinical model of relevance to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Although there is emerging evidence in the clinical literature of gastrointestinal dysfunction in OCD, no previous studies have investigated gut function in preclinical models of relevance to OCD. Similarly, the effects of voluntary exercise (EX) or environmental enrichment (EE) have not yet been explored in this context.
METHODS: We comprehensively phenotyped the SAPAP3 KO mouse model, including the assessment of grooming microstructure, anxiety- and depressive-like behaviour, and gastrointestinal function. Mice were exposed to either standard housing (SH), exercise (EX, provided by giving mice access to running wheels), or environmental enrichment (EE) for 4 weeks to investigate the effects of enriched housing conditions in this animal model relevant to OCD.
RESULTS: Our study is the first to assess grooming microstructure, perseverative locomotor activity, and gastrointestinal function in SAPAP3 KO mice. We are also the first to report a sexually dimorphic effect of grooming in young-adult SAPAP3 KO mice; along with changes to grooming patterning and indicators of gut dysfunction, which occurred in the absence of gut dysbiosis in this model. Overall, we found no beneficial effects of voluntary exercise or environmental enrichment interventions in this mouse model; and unexpectedly, we revealed a deleterious effect of wheel-running exercise on grooming behaviour. We suspect that the detrimental effects of experimental housing in our study may be indicative of off-target effects of stress-a conclusion that warrants further investigation into the effects of chronic stress in this preclinical model of compulsive behaviour.

Early life adversity has been linked with a higher probability of developing behavioral impairments and environmental manipulation is a strategy that may reduce the negative effects of exposure to adversity in early life. Here, we focused on exploring the influence of environmental enrichment (EE) as a protective factor in the context of early life adversity. We hypothesized that 24 hours of maternal deprivation (MD), in the second week of life, could induce anxiety-like behavior alterations and that exposure to EE could induce resilience to these behaviors due to alterations in the serotonergic system. Male Wistar rats were exposed to MD, on postnatal days 11 and 13, and to EE, after weaning. In adulthood, we performed a series of behavioral tests for fear, anxiety, and locomotor activity. We also measured the levels of serotonin in the amygdala and dorsal raphe nucleus. Our results revealed that MD does not impact fear behavior or the levels of serotonin, while EE decreases locomotor activity in a novel environment and enhances exploration in the predator odor test. EE also decreases serotonin in the amygdala and increases its turnover rate levels. Our findings provide insights into the critical timeframe during which stress exposure impacts the development and confirm that exposure to EE has an independent and protective effect for anxiety-like behaviors later in life.

Good zoo animal welfare is commonly promoted with environmental enrichment; however, some species are less likely to be offered enrichment than others. This study tested the effect of enrichment on a group of scarlet ibises from Zoomarine Algarve, Portugal. The study consisted of a first baseline condition, followed by four types of enrichment displays with individual presentations, a post-enrichment condition, and a post-enrichment with all enrichment types presented simultaneously. The enrichment types chosen were physical, with a tidal simulation in the lakes of the enclosure; nutritional, presenting mussels in a plastic mesh tube; sensory, by playing scarlet ibises calls; and tactile, with brushes through the habitat. The data collection was performed for 21 days between January and March 2021, 3 times a day, using scan sampling and instantaneous time sampling every 2 min. The comparison between conditions revealed that most behaviors showed similarity between the baseline and post-enrichment conditions, suggesting that after removing the enrichment, the behaviors returned to their initial baseline. It was also found that each enrichment influenced different types of behaviors and these behaviors also changed depending on the time of day. Exploratory behavior was only associated with the presence of enrichment, and vocalizations were only heard after the sensory enrichment was performed. This study demonstrates that the use of physical and tactile enrichments increased activity and decreased stationary behaviors in this group of ibises and may be used to improve their lives in zoological contexts if included in the housing and husbandry protocols.

Over the years, scientific research with fish models has grown at a rapid pace, and issues such as animal welfare are becoming increasingly important in various areas of animal husbandry and experimentation. Here, we evaluated whether Danio rerio behavior is affected by long-term maintenance (75 days) in an enriched environment or a chronic stress (CS) situation. In addition, we evaluated some biochemical parameters related to redox status. We concluded that long-term maintenance of zebrafish in enriched environment might induce an anxiety-like behavior pattern when these fish are faced with an acute subsequent stressor. These anxiety results, the increased school cohesion, and the absence of oxidative damage allow us to hypothesize that the fish maintained in environmental enrichment (EE) situation is more reactive, showing a strong protective reaction to the stress. From an applicable perspective, we show that both too much stress and too little stress are not ideal for zebrafish stocks. In CS situations, fish can habituate and might not respond optimally to test conditions. In opposite, the low stress promoted by environmental enrichment also renders the fish incapable of dealing with occasional stressors optimally, because now even normal conditions appear stressful to them and may elicit fear behaviors they normally would not exhibit.

Laboratory mice are typically housed in \"shoebox\" cages with limited opportunities to engage in natural behaviour. Temporary access to environments with increased space and complexity (playpens) may improve mouse welfare. Previous work by our group has shown that mice are motivated to access and use these environments, but it is unknown how other aspects of welfare are impacted. Female C57BL/6J, BALB/cJ, and DBA/2J mice (n = 21; 7 mice per strain) were housed in mixed-strain trios and given temporary access to a large playpen with their cage mates three times per week. Control mice (n = 21; 7 mice per strain) remained in their home cages. Home cage behaviour (development of stereotypic behaviour over time, aggression following cage-changing) and anxiety tests were used to assess how playpen access impacted welfare. Contrary to our predictions, we found increased time spent performing stereotypies in playpen mice; this difference may be related to negative emotional states, increased motivation to escape the home cage, or active coping strategies. Playpen access resulted in strain-dependent improvements in aggression and some measures of anxiety. Aggression was lower for C57BL/6J mice in the playpen treatment following cage changing than it was for C57BL/6J control mice, while playpen mice, and particularly the C57BL/6J strain, spent more time in the center of the open field test and produced fewer fecal boli during anxiety testing, supporting other research showing that strain differences play an important role in behaviour and stress resiliency.

Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with behavioral and cognitive impairments. Unfortunately, the drugs the Food and Drug Administration currently approved for AD have shown low effectiveness in delaying the progression of the disease. The focus has shifted to non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) because of the challenges associated with pharmacological treatments for AD. One such intervention is environmental enrichment (EE), which has been reported to restore cognitive decline associated with AD effectively. However, the therapeutic mechanisms by which EE improves symptoms associated with AD remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the mechanisms underlying the alleviating effects of EE on AD symptoms using histological, proteomic, and neurotransmitter-related analyses. Wild-type (WT) and 5XFAD mice were maintained in standard housing or EE conditions for 4 weeks. First, we confirmed the mitigating effects of EE on cognitive impairment in an AD animal model. Then, histological analysis revealed that EE reduced Aβ accumulation, neuroinflammation, neuronal death, and synaptic loss in the AD brain. Moreover, proteomic analysis by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry showed that EE enhanced synapse- and neurotransmitter-related networks and upregulated synapse- and neurotransmitter-related proteins in the AD brain. Furthermore, neurotransmitter-related analyses showed an increase in acetylcholine and serotonin concentrations as well as a decrease in polyamine concentration in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of 5XFAD mice raised under EE conditions. Our findings demonstrate that EE restores cognitive impairment by alleviating AD pathology and regulating synapse-related proteins and neurotransmitters. Our study provided neurological evidence for the application of NPIs in treating AD.