Fig. 6

Female Nf1^+/− display an increase in social behavior. a During a juvenile social play test, it was found that female Nf1^+/− mice spent more time socializing (*p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01, comparing with mutant male and WT female, respectively) and b the duration of social interactions was also significantly longer (**p < 0.01, comparing with mutant male and WT female). c Accordingly, mutant female showed an increase of social preference index (*p < 0.05, comparing in both their littermates WT and male Nf1^+/− mice). d However, the analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations calls emitted during juvenile social play test indicated that mutant animals vocalize more in the non-social context, while WT mice prefer to communicate during social interactions (*p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.001, comparing percentage of calls emitted in non-social context). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM, n = 6–29. Statistical significance was found by two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test