Neurodegeneration is characterized by loss of neurons causing changes that lead individuals to debilitating conditions;
the most common of this condition is the Alzheimer’s disease. It has been related that enriched environment (EE) induces
experience‑dependent plasticity mechanisms, improving the performance of the animals in learning and memory tests. This
study evaluated the effects of EE on histological parameters of the cerebellum in rats that received intracerebroventricular
streptozotocin. In the standard environment, streptozotocin (STZ) promoted a significant increase between the gaps in the Purkinje
layer of approximately 20%. On the other hand, in an enriched environment, the control result (EE) was similar to the result
under streptozotocin effect (STZEE). In the standard environment (SE) group a 26% significant reduction in Purkinje cell density
was observed under STZ presence. By analyzing the results of the density of Purkinje cells under the effect of streptozotocin in
a standard environment (STZSE) against the density of the layer of Purkinje cells also under the effect of streptozotocin in an
enriched environment (STZEE), a significant reduction of approximately 76% in density was observed of Purkinje cells in standard
environment (STZSE), the mean number of Purkinje cells in enriched environments was not reduced, despite of STZ. According to
the results, treatment with STZ and exposure to EE did not change the cerebellum general morphology/cytoarchitecture, hence
was no significant difference in the layers thickness. These facts demonstrate that the enriched environment appears to protect
the Purkinje cells layer of cerebellum from possible degenerati on.
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