Key result
Environmental enrichment with a nest box significantly increased parasympathetic nervous activity (HF power) and lowered resting heart rate in NSY mice, though it did not prevent impaired glucose tolerance.
Why the study?
Little is known about the influence of environmental enrichment on autonomic nervous activity in disease animal models, including type 2 diabetes.
Does environmental enrichment improve autonomic nervous activity and reduce disease progression in NSY mice?
Does environmental enrichment improve autonomic nervous activity and reduce disease progression in NSY mice?
p-value: p=0.026
Environmental enrichment enhances parasympathetic nervous activity and may reduce the progression of impaired glucose tolerance in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes.
No practice change in humans; hypothesis-generating for autonomic modulation in T2D models.
Environmental enrichment (EE) can reduce anxiety and stress in experimental animals, while little is known about the influence on autonomic nervous activity especially in disease animal models. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction, which can be characterized by a higher resting heart rate and a lower heart rate variability (HRV). We hypothesized that EE can enhance parasympathetic nervous activity while reducing disease progression in type 2 diabetic mice. A telemetry transmitter was implanted in NSY mice to continuously record electrocardiograms (ECG). Animals were kept in a cage with or without a nest box as EE. The autonomic nervous activity was evaluated using power spectral analysis of HRV. Four weeks of EE could increase high frequency (HF) power, but no change was observed in the absence of EE. Although animals showed impaired glucose tolerance at 48 weeks of age regardless of EE, a worsen case was observed in control. These results indicate that EE can be necessary for long-term housing of experimental animals and may reduce the risk of impaired glucose tolerance in NSY mice by enhancing parasympathetic nervous activity. In future, it is demanded whether increasing parasympathetic nervous activity, whatever the method is, can prevent diabetes from worsening.
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Kaneko et al. (2019) studied Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (Animal Model) (n=14). Environmental enrichment (nest box) vs. Standard cage without environmental enrichment was evaluated on High frequency (HF) power of heart rate variability during the light (resting) period (p=0.026). Environmental enrichment with a nest box significantly increased parasympathetic nervous activity (HF power) and lowered resting heart rate in NSY mice, though it did not prevent impaired glucose tolerance.
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