Statistical Analysis of Behavioral Outcomes

The statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 software (IBM Ltd., United Kingdom). Data conforming to normal distributions were represented as mean ± standard errors of the mean (SEM). Unpaired t-tests were utilized to analyze the differences between the control and model groups. A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by the post hoc Tukey Dunnett’s multiple comparison tests was used to analyze differences among the model, buspirone, and each treatment group when the data followed a normal distribution and the variances were equal. A repeated measures ANOVA was employed to examine group variations in body weight, food intake, coat state, sucrose preference, and fecal amount. Interaction effects between repeated indicators and days were tested by Pillai’s trace. In the case of interactions observed between a specific variable and days, the differences among each group were compared at the final time point. If no interactions were present, post-hoc analysis using Bonferroni’s multiple comparison tests was conducted. The correlations between each effect were performed using Pearson’s correlation. For all analyses, two-sided p-values < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.