Mapping Brain Activations Induced by Exposure to Enriched Environment with Manganese-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Xuxia Wang¹, Fuchun Lin¹, Liqin Yang¹, Zhao Li¹, Hao Lei¹

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.