Maternal probiotic treatment reverses anxiety-like behavior in the young and adult offspring in the OFT. (A) There was a significant interaction for time in the center zone in juvenile offspring [F(1,106) = 9.23]. In post hoc Tukey tests, HFD/vehicle offspring spent less time in center than the juvenile offspring of all other groups. (B) Maternal probiotic treatment increased juvenile offspring rearing behavior [main effect, F(1,107) = 4.14] independent of maternal diet with no interaction. (C) In the adult offspring, there was a significant interaction for time in the center zone [F(1,75) = 14.20]. Post hoc Tukey tests revealed that HFD/vehicle offspring spent less time in center than CD/vehicle and HFD/probiotic adult offspring. (D) Rearing behavior in adult offspring was unchanged. Two-way ANOVA; data are presented as boxplots showing median, interquartile range, and min/max points. #P < 0.05 (indicating main effect of maternal probiotic treatment); *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (indicating significant Tukey post hoc comparisons, computed only in the case of a significant diet × probiotic treatment interaction. Int., interaction; ns, not significant. n = 26 to 29 for juvenile offspring (13 to 15 male, 13 or 14 female) and 20 or 21 for adult offspring (10 or 11 male, 9 or 10 female) per group.