Anxiety-like behavior in weanling and young adult male and female malnourished rats

►The elevated T-maze is an animal model of anxiety. ►Protein-calorie malnutrition imposed early in life reduced anxiety-like behavior. ►Young malnourished rats were less afraid than weanling malnourished rats. ►Protein-calorie malnutrition caused learning impairment in the elevated T-maze. ►Weanling malnourished female rats learned to avoid aversive situations in the T-maze.