Highlights Perinatal L-NAME treatment decreased anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adult mice. Perinatal L-NAME treatment did not promote changes in locomotor activity in adult mice. Perinatal L-NAME treatment did not alter pain perception ABSTRACT Objective: We hypothesized that perinatal manipulations of the nitrergic system would affect adult animal behaviors. Methods: We tested this hypothesis by perinatally administering N(G)-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a non-specific antagonist of nitric oxide synthase for 15 days and assessed anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in adult mice. […]