Fresh off the press from Lindsey Kitchenham (PhD Candidate) and Dr Georgia Mason.
“Do housing-induced changes in brain activity cause stereotypic behaviours in laboratory mice?”
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2024.114862
They used histochemistry to measure neuronal activity in 36 mouse brains and 13 brain regions. Whilst they were unable to find changes in the prefrontal cortex or basal ganglia, they found that mice who live in conventional laboratory cages (barren, the size of a shoebox) have lower cortical activity (also seen in institutionalized children) than mice who live in large well-resourced cages with preferred enrichments like hammocks, shelters and running wheels.
