Effect of Environmental Enrichment on Transcriptomic Profile and Chromatin Accessibility of Cortical Neurons

Wildtype Swiss webster mice were exposed to four weeks of either standard housing (SH) or environmental enrichment (EE) starting at one month of age. EE chambers were large mouse cages containing two nesting/burrowing materials, a running wheel, and toys that were changed every 3-4 days for novelty and exploration. By contrast, SH control mice were housed with an equal number of littermates in smaller, standard cages containing only one nesting material and no toys or running wheel. We used an antibody for Rbfox3 (NeuN) to sort neuronal nuclei from the dissociated frontal cortices of male mice reared in EE and SH conditions. Isolated neuronal nuclei were then subjected to ATAC-seq or nuclear RNA isolation (random hexamer priming) as per published protocols. Overall design: Examination of ATAC-seq and nuclear RNA-seq signal from cortical neurons after enrichment