Animals
Male and female newborn Wistar rats were divided into two groups:I—MSG: rats received a subcutaneous injection of MSG (4 g/kg body weight per day) during the first 5 postnatal days, and II—control: rats received a subcutaneous injection of saline (0.9%) during the first 5 postnatal days (Balbo et al., 2000; Nardelli et al., 2011). Pups were weaned at the 21st day of life and had free access to standard rodent chow, under a 12:12 hour light/dark cycle, with lights on at 7:00 a.m. At the 60th day of life, the animals were submitted to behavioral tests (Fig. 1). The number of male and females was the same for all tests.The animals were used according to the guidelines of the Committee on Care and Use of Experimental Animal Resources of the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil (# 050/2012). The procedures in this study were performed in accordance with the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. All efforts were made to minimize animal suffering and to reduce the number of animals used in the experiments.