Abstract

​Young (5-8 months) female rats are randomly assigned to one of five groups: Sedentary (SED), Social (SO), Exercise (EX), Social + Exercise (SE), or Environmentally Enriched (ENR). The SED rats are the base group who will be housed individually in normal cages. The SO group will be in the same housing as the SED, except that they will be in pairs of two. The EX group will be housed individually in a two-story cage with a running wheel on the bottom and their food dispenser on the top, a ladder connecting the two levels. The SE group will be housed the same as the EX but in pairs of two. The ENR group will be housed individually in the base model but given various toys on a daily basis. All rats will have free access to water and a healthy measure of daily food. After 4 months of being kept in these living conditions, the rats will be put through the bi-color spatial test two times daily for 3 weeks. Their nose-poke scores (based on how many times the rat triggered the blue nose-poke vs. the red) will be calculated and we will find which group learned the system most accurately. Additionally, the rats will also all be given a grip-strength test to compare neuromuscular function and memory. The rats will then all be put in the base-SED conditions for 5 weeks. After that memory retention period, the rats will all be put through the spatial and grip-strength test again for one week. Each group will receive a newly calculated nose-poke score and the new data will be tested to see which group was able to retain the most memories of the spatial test. It can be hypothesised that the SE and ENR groups will have the highest memory-retention scores due to the known significance of such aspects in day-to-day living, generally but also specifically in relation to cognitive health. The purpose of this study is to measure what aspects of day-to-day life have the greatest impact on late-stage cognitive health. The findings of this study are to be used to better the understanding of memory retention over the course of a given lifespan. It is vital to understand the ideal lifestyle to preserve a healthy cognition in individuals who are at risk for neural diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia.