Research Article

Exposure to Patterned Auditory Stimuli during Acute Stress Prevents Despair-Like Behavior in Adult Mice That Were Previously Housed in an Enriched Environment in Combination with Auditory Stimuli

Figure 2

Experimental design to evaluate the effects of preexposure to standard conditions, environmental enrichment, patterned auditory stimuli, or environmental enrichment plus patterned auditory stimuli during housing and behavior in the forced-swim test. (a) Experimental design. Mice were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: (A) normal housing without patterned auditory stimuli and without patterned auditory stimuli during FST (NH-No PAS/FST-No PAS); (B) normal housing without patterned auditory stimuli plus PAS exposure during FST (NH-No PAS/FST + PAS); (C) normal housing with patterned auditory stimulus but without an additional PAS exposure during FST (NH + PAS/FST-No PAS); (D) NH + PAS plus an additional PAS exposure during FST (NH + PAS/FST + PAS); (E) ENR without patterned auditory stimuli and without patterned auditory stimuli during FST (ENR-No PAS/FST-No PAS); (F) ENR without patterned auditory stimuli plus PAS exposure during FST (ENR-No PAS/FST + PAS); (G) housed in ENR plus PAS but without an additional PAS exposure during FST (ENR + PAS/FST-No PAS); (H) ENR + PAS plus an additional PAS exposure during FST (ENR + PAS/FST + PAS). Two hours after the forced-swim test, the mice were sacrificed for histology. (b) Abbreviations of experimental groups.