Figure 1.

Exploratory behavior of male and female rats submitted to the EPM. (a) Timeline of the protocol for the experiments. Representative photomicrographs of each phase of estrous cycle proestrus (b), estrus (c), early diestrus (d), and late diestrus (e) with arrows to indicate the different cellular types: round-nucleated epithelial cells (b); larger, cornified cells (c); polymorphonuclear leucocytes with distinctly lobed nuclei (d); and polymorphonuclear leucocytes with clumped nucleus or disintegrating nuclei (e). Scale bars represent 20 µm for all. Behavior of male and female rats in the EPM during the 5-min exposure: (f) entries into the open arms and (g) percentage of time spent in the open arms, (h) entries into the closed arms, and (i) percentage of time spent in the closed arms of the maze. One-way ANOVA was performed, taking sex/estrous cycle as the main factor: females during proestrus (P), estrus (E), early diestrus (ED), late diestrus (LD), and male (M). The values are mean ± SEM. Tukey’s post hoc analysis, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. N = 7–11/group. EPM: elevated plus maze; ANOVA: analysis of variance.