Fig. 3: Impaired cognitive and social behaviors in adult Satb1 mutant rats.

a–c Open-field test. No significant differences were observed in the total distance traveled or number of center area entries. d, e Y-maze test. Compared with those in WT control rats, spontaneous alternation rates were lower in Satb1 mutant rats. f–h Novel object recognition test. WT control rats spent more time exploring the novel object, whereas Satb1 mutant rats spent comparable amounts of time exploring the two objects. This difference is also evidenced by the comparison of the discrimination indices. i–l Morris water maze test. Escape latency (i). Satb1 mutant rats spent more time finding the platform during the training phase (j), exhibited a shorter duration in the target quadrant (k), and a shorter duration in the platform location in the probe phase (l) than WT rats. m–p Five-trial social memory test. The total time WT rats spent exploring the same intruder in trials 1–4 gradually decreased but increased in trial 5 (presence of a novel intruder), whereas Satb1 mutant rats spent similar interaction times in all 5 trials (n). Differences in exploration time between trials 4 and 1 (o) and between trials 5 and 4 (p) were not significantly different in Satb1 mutant rats, whereas a substantial reduction in the former and an increase in the latter were observed in WT control rats. q, r Three-chamber social tests for assessing sociability. WT controls showed a greater preference index for S1 in the presence of a subject, which was not detected in Satb1 mutant rats. s, t Three-chamber social tests for social novelty. No significant differences were observed in the preference index for novel S2. n = 12–15 rats in each group. Two-way ANOVA with the Bonferroni correction was used for (i), and Student’s t test was used for the other variables. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001.