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. 2018 Aug 28;596(20):4923–4944. doi: 10.1113/JP276431

Figure 1. Experimental design of the short‐chain fatty acid treatment, psychosocial stress and behavioural assessment.

Figure 1

After 1 week of short‐chain fatty acid (SCFA) treatment, animals underwent a 3‐week psychosocial stress protocol containing intermittent social defeat and overcrowding procedures. Mice subsequently underwent behavioural assessment, starting with the least stressful test to the most stressful test. The order of the behavioural tests was as follows. Week 4: social interaction test (SIT) and sucrose preference test (SPT); week 5: three‐chamber sociability test (3‐CT) and female urine sniffing test (FUST); week 6: open field (OF), novel object recognition test (NOR) and marble burying test (MB); week 7: elevated plus maze (EPM), stress‐induced hyperthermia test (SIH) and tail‐suspension test (TST); week 8: fear conditioning (FC) and hot plate test (HPT); week 9: FITC‐dextran intestinal permeability test (FITC); week 10: forced swim test (FST); week 11: sacrifice. SCFA treatment was for the entire duration. [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com]