PMID- 31712354 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20200821 LR - 20200821 IS - 1477-9145 (Electronic) IS - 0022-0949 (Linking) VI - 222 IP - Pt 23 DP - 2019 Dec 4 TI - Effects of environmental enrichment on forebrain neural plasticity and survival success of stocked Atlantic salmon. LID - jeb212258 [pii] LID - 10.1242/jeb.212258 [doi] AB - Fish reared for stocking programmes are severely stimulus deprived compared with their wild conspecifics raised under natural conditions. This leads to reduced behavioural plasticity and low post-release survival of stocked fish. Environmental enrichment can have positive effects on important life skills, such as predator avoidance and foraging behaviour, but the neural mechanisms underpinning these behavioural changes are still largely unknown. In this study, juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were reared in an enriched hatchery environment for 7 weeks, after which neurobiological characteristics and post-release survival were compared with those of fish reared under normal hatchery conditions. Using in situ hybridization and qPCR, we quantified the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf) and the neural activity marker cfos in telencephalic subregions associated with relational memory, emotional learning and stress reactivity. Aside from lower expression of bdnf in the Dlv (a region associated with relational memory) of enriched salmon, we observed no other significant effects of enrichment in the studied regions. Exposure to an enriched environment increased post-release survival during a 5 month residence in a natural river by 51%. Thus, we demonstrate that environmental enrichment can improve stocking success of Atlantic salmon parr and that environmental enrichment is associated with changes in bdnf expression in the fish's hippocampus-equivalent structure. CI - (c) 2019. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. FAU - Mes, Daan AU - Mes D AD - Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 0454 Oslo, Norway. FAU - van Os, Renske AU - van Os R AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-4977-6697 AD - Institute of Water and Wetland Research, Department of Animal Ecology and Physiology, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands. FAU - Gorissen, Marnix AU - Gorissen M AD - Institute of Water and Wetland Research, Department of Animal Ecology and Physiology, Radboud University, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands. FAU - Ebbesson, Lars O E AU - Ebbesson LOE AD - Uni Environment, Uni Research AS, 5008 Bergen, Norway. FAU - Finstad, Bengt AU - Finstad B AD - Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, 7485 Trondheim, Norway. FAU - Mayer, Ian AU - Mayer I AD - Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 0454 Oslo, Norway. FAU - Vindas, Marco A AU - Vindas MA AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3996-0952 AD - Uni Environment, Uni Research AS, 5008 Bergen, Norway marco.vindas@nmbu.no. AD - Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 0454 Oslo, Norway. AD - Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, 413 90 Gothenburg, Sweden. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20191204 PL - England TA - J Exp Biol JT - The Journal of experimental biology JID - 0243705 SB - IM MH - Animals MH - *Aquaculture MH - Female MH - Fisheries MH - *Longevity MH - Male MH - *Neuronal Plasticity MH - Prosencephalon/*physiology MH - Salmo salar/*physiology MH - Seasons OTO - NOTNLM OT - Cognition OT - Neuroanatomy OT - bdnf OT - cfos COIS- Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests. EDAT- 2019/11/13 06:00 MHDA- 2020/08/22 06:00 CRDT- 2019/11/13 06:00 PHST- 2019/08/13 00:00 [received] PHST- 2019/11/04 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2019/11/13 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2020/08/22 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2019/11/13 06:00 [entrez] AID - jeb.212258 [pii] AID - 10.1242/jeb.212258 [doi] PST - epublish SO - J Exp Biol. 2019 Dec 4;222(Pt 23):jeb212258. doi: 10.1242/jeb.212258.