Figure 1.

Experimental design of the study. (A) On arrival, female mice were kept undisturbed in the laboratory for 2 weeks before beginning the experiment. They were then paired with male mice for 5–6 days to mate. Pregnant mice were treated intranasally with either GLA (0.2 or 1 mg/kg) or saline solution. Dams were treated three times a week until postnatal day 14 (PND 14). During pregnancy, female mice were weighed and their ability to build a nest tested 2–3 days before delivery. Preweaning tests were performed on all siblings from birth to PND 14. Males only were then left undisturbed until adulthood (3 months). A second cohort was left reaching PND 15 and was then euthanized to perform whole brain qRT-PCR and body/brain weight analyses. (B) At adulthood, the male mice were tested as follows: on day 1, the elevated plus maze (EPM); day 2, EPM retest and social interaction with females; day 5, social interaction with males; day 7, the olfactory habituation/dishabituation test; and day 8, the three-chambered sociability test.