Fig. 2. Systemic injection of osanetant given 30 min after fear acquisition is ineffective in modulating fear memory consolidation in prepubertal male and female mice, which present similar expression of Nk3R-positive neurons compared to adult male and female mice across the estrous cycle.

a Effect of osanetant or vehicle administration 30 min after FA in freezing behavior in P28 male (n = 8 per group) and (b) female mice (n = 8 per group). c Representative confocal image of the Nk3R in the CeA of prepubertal mice. Scale bar = 60 µm. d Quantification of Nk3R-positive cells in the CeA of adult and prepubertal males and prepubertal and adult females across the cycle (n = 4 per group). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Main effect treatment, main effect CS, and CSxTreatment interaction were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA, while NK3R expression was analyzed using non-parametric Krukal–Wallis’ χ².