Fig. 1

Neonatal severe inflammation leads to long-lasting cognitive impairment in adolescent rats. (A) Schematic illustrating the chronological order used for the establishment of the inflammation model and cognitive testing. Five litters were used in this cohort of experiment. (B) The development of body weight in rats (n = 8). (C) The survival curve of rats. (D) Learning curve for the escape latency. (E) Representative traces for the MWM test. (F) The time spent in the target quadrant (n = 15–19). (G) Distance spent in the target quadrant (n = 15–19). (H) Number of platform crossings (n = 15–19). (I) Mean velocity during the spatial probe test (n = 15–19). (J) The experimental protocol for FC. (K) The freezing time of rats during FC training. (L) The freezing time of rats in the context FC test (n = 15–19). (M) The freezing time of rats in the cued FC test (n = 15–19). LPS: lipopolysaccharide; NS: normal saline; MWM: Morris water maze; FC: fear conditioning; Panels B, D, and K were compared by two-way ANOVA with repeated measures followed by a Bonferroni post hoc test; Panel C was compared by log-rank test; Panels F, G, H, I, L, and M were compared by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test; ^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01, and ^*** P < 0.001, n.s.: no significance; Error bars indicate SD