FIG. 4.

Post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) environmental enrichment reduces post-traumatic drinking. Female mice underwent early-life SHAM or TBI surgery and were placed in an enriched environment, or standard housing. (A) While standard housing produced increased ethanol consumption following TBI, environmental enrichment significantly reduced ethanol preference to the levels consumed by SHAM-injured mice (B) Environmental enrichment significantly increased cortical brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression and normalized BDNF expression following TBI. (C, D) Early life TBI resulted in axonal degeneration, as assessed via silver staining; however, the extent of degeneration was significantly reduced by environmental enrichment. An asterisk (*) indicates significant group differences (p < 0.05). Scale bar = 20 μm.