“…Eight studies (five on rats, three on mice) investigated the effects of prenatal/postnatal or prepubertal/pubertal exposure to DEHP or a phthalate mixture on anxiety-like behavior of F1 offspring, using mainly the elevated plus maze alone or in combination with the open-field ( Table 2 ). Among these studies, seven analyzed these effects on cyclic females [ 69 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 ] and one in postpartum females [ 67 ]. Four out of seven studies found increased anxiety-state levels in PND30-35 mice exposed to 5 or 40 µg/kg/d of DEHP [ 69 ], in PND42 and adult females at the diestrus or estrus stage exposed to DEHP above 10 mg/kg/d [ 74 , 75 ], and in adult females of unknown estrous stage exposed to DEHP from 1 mg/kg/d [ 73 ].…”