Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: María Luz Iglesias | email: iglesiasmarialuz@gmail.com
María Luz Iglesias 1°, Arturo Gabriel Romano 1°
1° IFIByNE
Environmental enrichment (EE) has important physiological effects in the nervous system, such as synaptogenesis, adult neurogenesis, etc. In rodent models, EE has shown memory enhancement. However, little evidence is available on EE effect in invertebrates. We are studying the consequence of exposing the crabs in the laboratory to EE in comparison to standard conditions of maintenance. On the one hand, memory enhancement was found in crabs maintained in EE under weak training condition in which no memory retention was shown in standard conditions maintained animals. On the other hand, we are initiating the study of the effect of EE on the level of neurotrophins-like proteins in the central brain. We identified by western blots, using a brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) polyclonal antibody, proteins compatible with conserved neurotrophic factors (NT) of arthropods. We project to comparing the level of such proteins in central brains of animals maintained in EE with those of animals maintained in standard conditions. The study of EE effects in arthropods contributed to the understanding of the relevance of this treatments in comparative studies.