Fig. 3

Influence of maternal zinc supplementation on anxiety of Shank3^−/− offspring mice. Dark-light emergence test measured in wildtype (WT) and Shank3^−/− offspring mice. a At 3 weeks and b at 16 weeks of age, Shank3^−/− offspring mice took a significantly longer time to enter the bright arena in comparison to WT from the control maternal zinc diet. No statistical difference in latency to enter the bright arena was observed between WT and Shank3^−/− offspring mice from the supplemented maternal zinc diet (3 weeks: WT control maternal zinc diet (MZD) n = 6, Shank3^−/− control MZD n = 7, WT supplemented MZD n = 8, Shank3^−/− supplemented MZD n = 6; 16 weeks: WT MZD n = 8, Shank3^−/− control MZD n = 7, WT supplemented MZD n = 8, Shank3^−/− supplemented MZD n = 7). c At 3 weeks, there is no difference in time spent in the bright arena regardless of genotype or maternal zinc diet (WT control MZD n = 8, Shank3^−/− control MZD n = 7, WT supplemented MZD n = 8, Shank3^−/− supplemented MZD n = 7). d At 16 weeks of age, Shank3^−/− offspring mice from the control maternal zinc diet spent a significantly reduced amount of time in the bright arena compared to wildtype mice. However, no significant difference was observed in time spent in the bright arena between WT and Shank3^−/− mice from the supplemented maternal zinc diet group (WT control MZD n = 8, Shank3^−/− control MZD n = 7, WT supplemented MZD n = 7, Shank3^−/− supplemented MZD n = 7). All data represent mean ± standard error of the mean, analysed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. All data points represent individual mice. NS = not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01