Table 2.

Studies on neuroprotective environmental enrichment effects in pathological animal models.

Reference	Species and Pathological Model (Age or Weight at the Start of Environmental Enrichment)	Environmental Enrichment Type (Duration)	Environmental Enrichment Effects on Cerebellar Structure and Function (Age at the Effect Evaluation)
Kondo et al., 2008 [75]	Hemizygous male and heterozygous female Mecp2tm1Tam mice; model of Rett syndrome (more rapid onset and progression of symptoms in males) (28 days)	Environmental enrichment —with running wheels and novelty manipulation; without social manipulation (Males: 6 weeks; Females: 26 weeks)	In males: unchanged locomotor activity (6; 9 weeks) and motor coordination (7; 8; 9 weeks); unchanged BDNF expression (10 weeks)
			In females: prevention of early motor coordination deficits (20; 23; 26 weeks); unchanged locomotor activity (15 weeks) and late motor coordination (29 weeks); unchanged BDNF expression (30 weeks)
Nag et al., 2009 [76]	Male Mecp21lox mice; model of Rett syndrome (21 days)	Environmental enrichment —with running wheels and novelty manipulation; without social manipulation (23 days)	Prevention of locomotor deficits; unchanged motor coordination and contextual or cued fear conditioning (29–43 days); unchanged volume (44 days)
Lonetti et al., 2010 [77]	Male Mecp2tm1Jae mice; model of Rett syndrome (10 days)	Environmental enrichment —with running wheels and novelty manipulation (50 days)	In males: prevention of motor coordination and motor learning deficits (30–60 days); increased inhibitory synaptic density (52 days)
Gelfo et al., 2011 [79]	Male Wistar rats; model of cerebellar trauma (hemicerebellectomy at 75th postnatal day) (21 days)	Environmental enrichment —with running wheels and novelty manipulation (about 4 months)	Accelerated motor recovery (1–42 post-operative days); increased NGF expression; unchanged BDNF expression (5 months)
Gelfo et al., 2016 [4]	Male Wistar rats; model of cerebellar trauma (hemicerebellectomy at 75th postnatal day) (21 days)	Environmental enrichment —with running wheels and novelty manipulation (about 4 months)	Accelerated motor recovery and restoration of complex motor behaviors (1–56 post-operative days); increased spatial learning and memory performance (about 4 months); maintaining of Purkinje cell dendritic spine density and size (about 4.5 months)

Note: unless otherwise specified, the described effects involve the entire cerebellar structure.