Early‐life environmental enrichment reduces anxiety and induces sex‐dependent neuroplasticity in hypothalamic oxytocin and vasopressin neurons
Samantha Costa Amorim Muniz, João Victor Silva Nani, Naima Jamile dos Santos Marciano, Raquel do Nascimento de Souza, Roberto Laureano‐Melo, Wellington da Silva Cortes, Fábio Fagundes da Rocha, André Souza Mecawi · 2026
Read Early‐life environmental enrichment reduces anxiety and induces sex‐dependent neuroplasticity in hypothalamic oxytocin and vasopressin neurons by Samantha Costa Amorim Muniz, João Victor Silva Nani, Naima Jamile dos Santos Marciano, Raquel do Nascimento de Souza, Roberto Laureano‐Melo, Wellington da Silva Cortes, Fábio Fagundes da Rocha, André Souza Mecawi (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13557847.txt.
Description
Samantha Costa Amorim Muniz and seven co-authors study enriched early life in mice in a 2026 paper. Experiences around birth shape the hormone systems that govern emotion and social life. Two brain systems, built around oxytocin and vasopressin, are especially open to early influence.
Mice raised with enrichment were compared with standard-housed peers in adulthood. Standard maze and light-box tests measured anxiety, and social tests checked interest in strangers. Brain measures tracked cell size and hormone signals in a key hypothalamic nucleus. Enriched mice showed less anxiety as adults. Brain changes differed between males and females, which underlines sex as a factor in early-life programming of emotion.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Samantha Costa Amorim Muniz, João Victor Silva Nani, Naima Jamile dos Santos Marciano, Raquel do Nascimento de Souza, Roberto Laureano‐Melo, Wellington da Silva Cortes, Fábio Fagundes da Rocha, André Souza Mecawi |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 46 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |