Environmental enrichment

3 papers4 findings

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

No results posted: trials that ended more than a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper in ARN’s record.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

2 independent labs in 2 countries

Animals1

Outcomes

Microglial number and morphological complexity

upin rodents1

1 study

Environmental enrichment increases microglial number and morphological complexity in rodents.
Reviewin physiological aging and aging relevant pathological contexts
Differential effects of environmental enrichment and physical exercise on glial biology in aging and aging-related conditions: a systematic review
Frontiers in cellular neuroscience28 Jul 2026

More on Microglial number and morphological complexity

Inflammation

downin rats1

1 study

Environmental enrichment decreases inflammation in rats.
“Molecular biological analyses showed that neuroinflammatory markers interleukin-6 and inducible nitric oxide synthase were reduced in the EE and CR groups”
Animals8 weeksmales
Effects of environmental enrichment and caloric restriction on hippocampal changes in early adult rats
Journal of Korean biological nursing science25 Nov 2024