Abstract:
This study was designed to investigate the role of enriched environment in preventing and/or reducing the
neurobehavioral deficits produced after nicotine administration in albino Wistar rats. Equal numbers of rat in two groups
were either placed in social environment (control group) or social along with physically enriched environment for four
weeks before the administration of nicotine. Exposure to different environmental conditions was followed by the
intraperitoneal injection of nicotine at the dose of 0.6 mg/kg for seven consecutive days during which addictive behavior
was monitored using conditioned placed preference paradigm. Behavioral responses to locomotor activity, anxiety and
retention of short term memory were investigated in control and nicotine injected groups exposed to different
environments. Results of this study showed that the rats pre-exposed to physical along with social enrichment exhibited a
decrease in drug seeking behavior, hyper locomotion, anxiogenic effects along with improvement of working memory as
compared to control and nicotine injected groups that were kept in social environment alone. This behavioral study
suggests that the exposure to physical enrichment along with socialization in young age can later reduce the chances of
compulsive dependence on nicotine and related neurobehavioral deficits.
