Fig. 2: Postnatal environment explains aggressive tendencies in F1 males.

A Play behavior. In juveniles, aggressive temperament was enhanced during home cage play behavior as a result of both prenatal and postnatal PPS dam influences. Prenatal effects are depicted by letters a, b. B Cohabitation. Only the adults reared by PPS male-paired dams exhibited increased aggressive behavior towards females during cohabitation. C Resident-intruder test. Adults reared by PPS male-paired dams exhibited increased aggressive behavior towards an intruder male as evidenced through increased proportion of offensive behaviors compared to all other behaviors. D Increased aggression in males reared by PPS male-paired dams was also measured in terms of the number of offensive events. The results are the mean ± s.e.m. PPS: Peripubertally stressed rats. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01.