Figure 3.

Schizophrenia-like behavioral abnormalities in PRS mice are reversed by treatment with valproic acid (70 mg/kg, i.p.; twice a day for 5 days), or clozapine (5 mg/kg, s.c.; twice a day, for 5 days). Data of locomotor activity (A), social interaction (B), and PPI (C), 24h after the last drug injection, are shown. One way ANOVA comparing controls (NS) veh, PRS veh, PRS VPA and PRS clozapine: (A) locomotor activity (F_3,33 = 8.9 1 9, p = 0.001), (B) social interaction (F_3,28 = 17.233, p <0.001, and (C) PPI (74 dbF_3,42 = 5.189, p = 0.004; 78 db F_3,42 = 9.625, p <0.001; 82 dbF_3,42 = 6.582, p <0.001). Post-hoc Newman-Keuls comparisons indicated that PRS veh mice differed from controls veh mice (*), and from PRS mice treated with VPA (**) or clozapine (#). Analysis for PRS mice considered yielded a similar result while ANOVAs for controls were not significant.

Control dams were left undisturbed throughout gestation, whereas stressed dams were subjected to repeated episodes of restraint stress, as described previously [14,15]. The stress procedure consisted of restraining the pregnant dam in a transparent tube (12 × 3 cm) under a bright light for 45 min three times per day from the seventh day of pregnancy until delivery. After weaning (postnatal day [PND] [21], male mice were selected for the study and housed four to five per cage separately by condition.