{
  "abstract": "Chronic stress impairs behavior, neuroimmune regulation and gut microbial ecology, but whether natural-environment structure shapes recovery remains unclear. Here, we tested whether landscape design, beyond greenness alone, promotes recovery in chronically stressed male mice. During a 28-day recovery phase, mice were exposed to five parameterized vegetated landscapes differing in openness, canopy density and visual complexity, a matched urban-gray setting, or standard housing. Vegetated exposure improved anxiety-like behavior, behavioral despair and anhedonia, whereas the gray setting showed little benefit. Recovery was design-dependent: multistrata, color-rich landscapes produced the fastest and most sustained behavioral improvement, while open lawn-dominant layouts showed weaker, partly transient effects. These gains were accompanied by lower interleukin-1β and interleukin-6, normalized hippocampal Iba-1, preserved brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and restored gut microbial diversity. Predicted microbial functions linked butyrate-related pathways with neuroimmune-behavioral indices. These findings support vegetation structure as a tunable environmental variable for coordinated recovery after chronic stress.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "College of Landscape Architecture and Arts, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi China",
    "School of Basic Medical Sciences, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China",
    "Yunnan Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, School of Rehabilitation, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yixin Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Kejin Ma",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-6696-2309"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tianxu Hu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yongcan Ma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hetao Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xin Peng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Gaosheng Yin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Huijia Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Feng Lin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yinan Pan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tianci Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Haoer Ban"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yufei Zhu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tian Gao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ling Qiu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cnzpkeq613bya.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s42003-026-10628-8",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13737191/",
  "id": "cnzpkeq613bya",
  "issns": [
    "2399-3642"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10628-8",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3322|Urban Green Space and Health"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7168182737",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13737191",
  "pmid": "42443490",
  "published": "2026-07-14",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cnzpkeq613bya.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-09T12:22:28Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13737191",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10628-8"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "issn:2399-3642",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Vegetation structure shapes behavioral, neuroimmune and gut microbial recovery after chronic stress in mice",
  "title_text": "Vegetation structure shapes behavioral, neuroimmune and gut microbial recovery after chronic stress in mice",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T12:22:28Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cnzpkeq613bya",
  "venue": "Communications Biology",
  "versions": []
}