RNA-Sequencing of Running-dependent and Running-independent Environmental Enrichment in the Adult Mouse Dentate Gyrus

We used RNA sequencing to perform an unbiased interrogation of DG gene expression in CD1 mice exposed to either a voluntary running disc (RUN), a running-independent complex environment (CE, containing a locked disc, social enrichment and tunnels), or a locked disc alone (LD). RNA sequencing revealed that both RUN and CE mice showed significant, and largely non-overlapping, transcriptomic differences versus the LD control. Our findings reveal stimulus-dependent transcriptional signatures of EE on the DG, and provide a resource for generating unbiased, data-driven hypotheses about novel mediators of EE-induced cognitive changes. Overall design: RNA sequencing to ask whether running-dependent and running-independent EE paradigms differentially affect the transcriptome of the hippocampal dentate gyrus, a brain region critical for learning and memory