Xuxia Wang1, Fuchun Lin1, Liqin Yang1, Zhao Li1, Hao Lei1
1Wuhan Insitute of Physics & Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China
It is well-known that exposure to an enriched environment (EE) can induce plastic changes in the hippocampus and improves learning and memory in hippocampus-dependent tasks. In this study, we attempted to map accumulative brain activations in rats exposed to the EE for a period of 24 hrs with manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI). The data showed that EE exposure induced significant activations in the anterior hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and some cerebellar structures.