Novel object recognition test.

<p>Blue circles: A1, A2; original objects. Red triangle: B; novel object. Oxytocin doses: 10 μg/kg, 100 μg/kg and 1000 μg/kg. In the first day of the test, the subject explored the two objects of same colour and same shape twice in 1 hour interval. Oxytocin was administrated in the second test day, then the subject explored one of the same objects previously presented and a new object of different colour and shape.</p

Novel object recognition and social interaction test.

<p>(A) 100 μg/kg and 1000 μg/kg oxytocin disrupted recognition memory in males. 1000 μg/kg single exposure (B) and 10 μg/kg and 100 μg/kg repeated exposure to oxytocin (C) increased social interaction in females. (D) 100 μg/kg oxytocin increased social interaction in males. Error bars refer to ± SEM. * post-hoc testing: <i>p<</i>0.05.</p

Striatum proteomics and western blot studies.

<p>(A) Multivariate analysis: partial least squares—discriminative analysis (PLS-DA) carried out using SIMCA-P+12.0 software (Umetrics). The striatal protein profile following oxytocin exposure could be clearly differentiated from saline (controls). The XY axis shows the coordinates of the protein distribution in the partial least squares—discriminative analysis (B) Western blot gel images of target proteins. (C) The relative expression of the target proteins/β-actin, Columns show mean±SEM (<i>n</i> = 9 for saline exposure; <i>n</i> = 8 for oxytocin exposure). * <i>p</i><0.05.</p

PPI test.

<p>(A) Oxytocin attenuated the baseline startle response to 120dB pulse in female mice. (B) Oxytocin increased the baseline startle response to 100dB pulse in male mice. (C) 100 μg/kg oxytocin attenuated PPI in females. (D) All doses of oxytocin improved PPI in males. Error bars refer to ± SEM.</p

Behavioural tests.

<p>The sequence of behavioural testing. Mice were dived into two groups of equal number and sex. Half the mice followed test sequence I; half followed test sequence II. PPI: Prepulse inhibition of startle.</p

Open field and Amphetamine test.

<p>Oxytocin doses: 10 μg/kg, 100 μg/kg and 1000 μg/kg. The subject explored the arena for 1 hour while drug free. Then the subject explored the same arena for another 30min after drug (saline or oxytocin) injection. Finally the subject explored the same arena again for 1hour after amphetamine injection.</p

Western blot analysis of the differentially expressed target proteins in PolyI:C and control group.

<p>(A) Gel image of protein products in the control and PolyI:C group. (B) The relative expression of the target proteins/β-actin protein. Columns show mean ± SEM (n = 8 for PFC and n = 6 for CPu). *<i>p</i><0.05 and **<i>p</i><0.005 vs. corresponding control group.</p

Differential expression patterns of proteins-of-interest and their abundances relative to the internal standard in the BVA module.

<p>Differential expression patterns of proteins-of-interest and their abundances relative to the internal standard in the BVA module.</p

Differential protein expression in striatum of PolyI:C-treated mice compared to controls.

<p>Differential protein expression in striatum of PolyI:C-treated mice compared to controls.</p

PolyI:C mice group was differentiated from controls using PLS-DA analysis of the whole CPu (A) and PFC (B) proteome.

<p>M, male; F, female.</p