Abstract: An enriched environment refers to conditions that facilitate sensory, cognitive, motor, and social stimulation. Behavioural,cellular and molecular studies have revealed significant effects of enriched environments on rodents and other species. Post-ischemic housing in an enriched environment improves functional outcome, modifies gene activation, induces alterations in the expression of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor subunits, increases dendrite branching and number of dendritic spine in pyramidal neurons in layers II/III in the contra-lateral cortex, induces structural changes in synaptic junctions. Furthermore, it alters lesion-induced progenitor cell differentiation and interacts with necrotic grafting. The idea of environmental enrichment has been applied to clinical stroke rehabilitation and is getting more and more attention. This review will summarize experimental effects of enriched environment on post-ischemic rehabilitation and the clinical application of enriched environment in stroke rehabilitation.

Key words: enriched environment, stroke, cerebral infarction, gene activation, dendritic spine, synaptic junction, progenitor cell differentiation, neocortic grafting