Early postnatal environmental enrichment restores neurochemical and functional plasticities of the cerebral cortex and improves learning performance in hidden-prenatally-malnourished young-adult rats.

•Hidden prenatally malnourished rats show low cortical β-adrenoceptor and BDNF levels.•Malnourished rats also exhibit deficits in cortical LTP and in learning performance.•Early environmental enrichment improved the neurochemical indexes in malnourished rats.•Early environmental enrichment also restored LTP and learning performance.•Environmental enrichment exerts neuroprotection against neuroplastic deficits in fetal life.