Figure 5.

Effect of chronic cat odour stress on phobia/fear‐like behaviour evaluated using the elevated plus maze (EPM) and social interaction test. The activity of the rats on the EPM expressed as percentage of total time spent in the open arms of the EPM was determined on postnatal day (PND) 29, 36 and 43 (A). Across the different test days, there were no significant differences in the time spent by either the control rats or the cat odour treat rats on the EPM open arm (F _5,60 = 3.041, P > 0.05). Comparison between control and cat odour‐treated rats showed that the time spent in the open arms was significantly reduced in the cat odour‐treated group compared to the control group (F _5,60 = 7.370, P < 0.05) and post‐hoc analyses revealed statistical significant on PND 29, 36 and 43 (P < 0.05, on all three test days). Social interaction time (B) was significantly decreased in the cat odour‐treated group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05 vs control at the same time point (n = 8‐12 per group)