Autism-Like Behaviours and Memory Deficits Result from a Western Diet in Mice

Figure 2

Dietary challenge with cholesterol results in aberrant home cage social behaviour. In comparison to control mice, the dietary-challenged group displayed (a) a significant decrease in the duration of group huddle, (b) a significant prolongation of the duration of “sitting alone” behaviour, and (c) a significant increase in the time spent in motion in the cage ( versus that in the control group, t-test). As compared to control animals, a group fed with the cholesterol-enriched diet showed a significant elevation of (d) the percentage of mice displaying digging behaviour ( versus that in the control group, Fisher’s exact test) and (e) the duration of digging behaviour ( versus that in the control group, Mann-Whitney test). Control—standard diet, WD—high-cholesterol diet. Data are shown as mean ± SEMs.