Environmental enrichment prevents chronic stress-induced brain-gut axis dysfunction through a GR-mediated mechanism in the central nucleus of the amygdala
Albert Orock
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Search for more papers by this authorTijs Louwies
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Search for more papers by this authorTian Yuan
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Department of Physiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Correspondence
Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld, Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, O'Donoghue Building, Room 332, 1122 NE 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73117.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAlbert Orock
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Search for more papers by this authorTijs Louwies
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Search for more papers by this authorTian Yuan
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld
Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Department of Physiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Correspondence
Beverley Greenwood-Van Meerveld, Oklahoma Center for Neuroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, O'Donoghue Building, Room 332, 1122 NE 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73117.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Background
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) improves quality of life of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder characterized by chronic visceral pain and abnormal bowel habits. Whether CBT can actually improve visceral pain in IBS patients is still unknown. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether environment enrichment (EE), the animal analog of CBT, can prevent stress-induced viscero-somatic hypersensitivity through changes in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling within the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA).
Methods
Rats were housed in either standard housing (SH) or EE for 7 days before and during daily water avoidance stress (WAS) exposure (1-h/d for 7 days). In the first cohort, visceral and somatic sensitivity were assessed via visceromotor response to colorectal distention and von Frey Anesthesiometer 24 hous and 21 days after WAS. In another cohort, the CeA was isolated for GR mRNA quantification.
Key Results
Environment enrichment for 7 days before and during the 7 days of WAS persistently attenuated visceral and somatic hypersensitivity when compared to rats placed in SH. Environment enrichment exposure also prevented the WAS-induced decrease in GR expression in the CeA.
Conclusion & Inferences
Pre-exposure to short-term EE prevents the stress-induced downregulation of GR, and inhibits visceral and somatic hypersensitivity induced by chronic stress. These results suggest that a positive environment can ameliorate stress-induced pathology and provide a non-pharmacological therapeutic option for disorders such as IBS.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None of the authors have any conflicts of interest.
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