Environmental enrichment ameliorates phencyclidine-induced cognitive deficits

Recent work has suggested that environmental enrichment during development can enhance aspects of learning and memory, however its effects on executive function and cognitive flexibility have not been well studied. The goal of this research was to evaluate whether environmental enrichment (EE) that included wheel running would improve cognitive performance in young male Long Evans rats that received subchronic administration of either phencyclidine (PCP) or saline. We used a sensitive extradimensional/intradimensional (ED/ID) test of cognitive flexibility similar to that used in humans and nonhuman primates for assessing executive function. PCP-treated rats demonstrated a selective impairment on ED shift (EDS) performance without significant impairment on other discrimination problems when compared to saline treated control animals. A separate group of animals that received PCP + EE demonstrated significantly improved performance on EDS and reversal learning problems, whereas the saline + EE group demonstrated a non-selective improvement in overall performance when compared to non-enriched saline controls. The saline + EE group demonstrated greater activity levels as measured by wheel running when compared to the PCP + EE group, but no significant associations were found between wheel running and cognitive performance. Together, these data suggest that EE that features wheel running may have promoted a general cognitive enhancement while also selectively acting upon neurobiological mechanisms that subserve executive function and cognitive flexibility in impaired animals. Development of novel treatment methodologies that target mechanisms underlying the ameliorative effects of EE in this model of cognitive impairment may be a useful tool in the development of new therapeutic strategies for disorders that feature cognitive dysfunction as a key symptom. ► Subchronic PCP dosing produced a selective deficit in cognitive flexibility. ► Environmental enrichment reversed the PCP-induced impairment in EDS learning. ► Environmental enrichment improved non-impaired reversal learning performance.