Environmental enrichment reduces anxiety-like behaviors in rats

Background: Anxiety-related behaviors are strongly associated with lifestyle and environmental conditions, often triggered by chronic exposure to stressors or insufficient sensory stimulation. Environmental enrichment (EE), a multisensory stimulation protocol, has been shown to reduce anxiety-like behaviors in laboratory animals; however, the lack of standardized EE configurations requires validation against established pharmacological models.

Objective: To validate and standardize an EE configuration and determine whether it produces anxiolytic effects comparable to diazepam.

Methods: Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four groups: Control, Control + saline, Control + diazepam, and EE. Control animals were housed in standard cages, whereas EE animals were housed in enriched environments containing toys, mazes, ropes, ramps, and manipulable materials. Housing conditions were maintained for 30 days. Anxiety-like behaviors were assessed using the elevated plus maze and open field tests.

Results: Rats in the EE and diazepam groups exhibited reduced anxiety-like behaviors compared to saline-treated and control groups.

Conclusions: These findings support the anxiolytic effect of environmental enrichment and highlight the importance of environmental factors in modulating anxiety-related behaviors.