Study of the effects of environmental enrichment stimuli on the reduction of stress in Wistar rats

Abstract

Introduction: Environmental enrichment consists of changes in the environment of animals that increase their quality of life and well-being. The enrichment of the environment used in research can grant the natural behavior of the animals, reducing the level of stress and increasing the well-being, which can positively influence the responses during an experiment. Objective: To evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment on reducing stress in Wistar rats by measuring fecal cortisol. Methodology: Insertion of objects and activities and cortisol dosage through fecal samples. The animals were separated into groups according to the type of environmental enrichment offered: food, cognitive, food, physical, sensory and social, in addition to the control, social control and stress groups. In each group there was a cage with male animals and another with females. Before and after the stimuli, feces samples were collected from the cages for cortisol dosage. Results: Among the treatments, there was no significant difference in cortisol levels, in the control and enriched animals, but among the socialization treatments there was a significant decrease in the hormone (69.94% difference) in the animals that experienced socialization. Conclusion: There is a need for further research with a larger sample size to better understand the effect of environmental enrichment on laboratory animals.