SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Cell. Neurosci.

Sec. Cellular Neuropathology

Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fncel.2025.1624500

This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Cellular NeuropathologyView all 5 articles

Is environmental enrichment effective in modulating autophagy markers in the brain exposed to adverse conditions? A systematic review

Provisionally accepted
Clarice Beatriz Gonçalves SilvaClarice Beatriz Gonçalves Silva1Matheus Santos De Sousa FernandesMatheus Santos De Sousa Fernandes1,2Debora Dantas Nucci CerqueiraDebora Dantas Nucci Cerqueira1,2Gabriela SantosGabriela Santos3Fatma Hilal YaginFatma Hilal Yagin4*Yalin AygunYalin Aygun5Georgian BadicuGeorgian Badicu6Fabiana EvangelistaFabiana Evangelista7Pablo Prieto-GonzálezPablo Prieto-González8Fabricio Oliveira SoutoFabricio Oliveira Souto1,2Ashit Kumar DuttaAshit Kumar Dutta9Sameer Badri AL-MhannaSameer Badri AL-Mhanna10Abedelmalek Kalefh TabnjhAbedelmalek Kalefh Tabnjh10,11,12*
  • 1Keizo Asami Institute, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
  • 2Postgraduate Program in Biology Applied to Health, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
  • 3Postgraduate Program in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Phenotypic Plasticity - UFPE/CAV, Vitória de Santo Antão,, Pernambuco, Brazil
  • 4Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Malatya Turgut Ozal University, Malatya, Türkiye
  • 5Department of Sport Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Inonu University, Malatya, Türkiye
  • 6Department of Physical Education and Special Motricity, Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania
  • 7School of Arts, Science and Humanities, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 8Sport Sciences and Diagnostics Research Group, GSD-HPE Department, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 9Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, College of Applied Sciences, AlMaarefa University, Ad Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 10Center for Global Health Research, Saveetha Medical College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India
  • 11Department of Cariology, Institute of Odontology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, gothenburg, Sweden
  • 12Department of Applied Dental Sciences. Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan

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Autophagy is a key regulator of cellular homeostasis and neuronal survival, particularly under adverse physiological conditions. Environmental enrichment (EE), a nonpharmacological intervention providing enhanced sensory, cognitive, and motor stimulation, may modulate autophagic processes in the brain. This systematic review aimed to synthesize preclinical findings on the effects of EE on autophagy markers in rodent models subjected to diverse adverse conditions. A literature search across PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and embase yielded eight eligible studies meeting inclusion criteria. EE was found to be generally associated with upregulation of key autophagic markers such as Beclin-1, LC3-II/LC3-I ratio, cathepsins, p62, p-TFEB, and

Keywords: enriched environment, Cellular autophagy, Central Nervous System, Metabolism, immune response

Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 05 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Silva, De Sousa Fernandes, Nucci Cerqueira, Santos, Yagin, Aygun, Badicu, Evangelista, Prieto-González, Souto, Dutta, AL-Mhanna and Tabnjh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Fatma Hilal Yagin, Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Malatya Turgut Ozal University, Malatya, Türkiye
Abedelmalek Kalefh Tabnjh, Department of Cariology, Institute of Odontology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, gothenburg, Sweden

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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