Figure 5. Shows the response of corticosterone after an injection of TNP-OVA alone (dashed lines) or TNP-OVA+LPS in sham (blue) or SSX (yellow) or PSX (red) animals.

Clearly LPS induces the secretion of corticosterone but no difference can be observed between denervated or intact animals, illustrating that after i.v. injection of LPS the corticosterone response is not dependent on sensory autonomic information from the spleen. (Two way ANOVA indicated difference between the LPS treated groups with all other groups without LPS p<0.01. Tukey post hoc test showed significant difference of day 7 and 10 of the sham and sympathetic denervation as compared to all other time points p<0.001.)