Fig. 3.

BALB/c mice were tolerized/immunosuppressed with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) [200 µg/kg intraperitoneally (i.p.) for the first 3 days, followed by 4 mg/kg i.p. for 9 days]. After 24 h, mice were treated with mifepristone (RU486) (30 mg/kg i.p.) and 30 min later were immunized with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) (5 × 10⁸/mouse i.p.). Twenty-four and 30 h after the immunization, mice were treated again with RU486. Control mice (naive) were either treated or not with RU486 and immunized using the same schedule. Seven days after immunization the animals were bled and serum antibodies were evaluated through a haemagglutination assay. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean (% control average) and each point represents an individual mouse. The data represent three independent experiments with three to five mice per group. I = LPS tolerant/immunosuppressed mice; I + RU486 = RU486-treated LPS tolerant/immunosuppressed mice; C = control mice (naive); C + RU486 = control mice (naive) + RU486. **P < 0·01.