Housing in an enriched environment: A tool to study functional recovery after experimental stroke

Abstract

Physical therapy and social interactions between the stroke patient and health-care professionals or relatives facilitate the process of recovery and promote improvement of lost neurological function after stroke. These observations can be mimicked in an experimental setting by multimodal stimulation provided in the concept of enriched environment. The enriched environment is a housing condition for rodents combining social interactions and sensorimotor stimulation that improves lost neurological function without affecting the extent of brain damage after experimental stroke. This chapter deals with the concept of enriched housing and about performing studies using enriched environment as tool to investigate mechanisms of recovery after brain injury.