IVC - Environmental enrichment does not affect nociceptive behaviours in neuropathic rats but affects exploratory and anxiety behaviours

Rodents living in enriched environments develop less severe pain behavior following a peripheral nerve or central nervous system injury than those living in standard or restricted environments. To date, most studies involving environmental enrichment have kept the animals in an enriched environment from the time of injury onward. We have previously shown (Tejerian et al. Plos One 2013) that neuropathy and depression in mice with long standing neuropathic pain can be reversed with environmental enrichment. In this study, we investigated the impact of environmental enrichment in rats up to three months after cfronic nerve injury.