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. 2021 May 12;15:676308. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2021.676308

FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3

Valproic Acid, a pharmacological modulator of cortical plasticity, destabilizes hierarchy stability. (A) Timeline showing habituation and training, followed by baseline testing and testing under Valproic Acid (VPA) 2x daily injection followed by 2 weeks of drug wash-out. Mice were then re-tested for a baseline period and a saline (SAL) 2x daily injection control treatment. (B) VPA treatment increased change in DSs separated by a day, an indication of increased hierarchy instability while (C) injection with SAL had no effect on hierarchy stability (VPA: generalized linear model, ∗p = 0.02 SAL: generalized linear model, p = 0.68, n = 40 mice in 10 cages). (D,E) Baseline testing sessions separated by a day show highly correlated DS values (D,E, top) while post-VPA treatment DS correlations dissolve (D, middle). SAL treated mice retain correlated DSs (E, middle). Baseline DSs are significantly more correlated than DSs following VPA treatment (D, bottom, Pearson and Filon’s z, ∗∗∗p = 0.0005) while SAL treatment does not affect DS correlations (E, bottom, p = 0.5374).