Fig. 4

Locomotor activity and anxiety-like behavior of BALB/c and C57BL/6 female mice during the postpartum period in the elevated plus maze test. The elevated plus maze test was performed for a 10-min test period in nulliparous, nonlactating primiparous, and lactating primiparous females of C57BL/6J, C57BL/6JJcl, BALB/cAnNCrlCrlj, and BALB/cAJcl strains. a–f Elevated plus maze test: a distance traveled (cm), b number of total arm entries, c time spent in closed arms (s), d entries into open arms (%), e time spent in open arms (%), and f time spent in center area (s). Values are means ± SEM. Dashed enclosures in the figure indicate the results replicated in another independent experiment (see Fig. 7). *p < 0.05 after Bonferroni correction (lactating primiparous vs. nulliparous); †p < 0.05 after Bonferroni correction (lactating primiparous vs. nonlactating primiparous)