Table 3.

Relative normalized expression ratio of target cytokines, chemokines, and COX-2 inflammatory mediators^a

Geneb	Timec	Blood			Liver			Kidneys			Lungs
		Relative normalized expression ratiod		m/h ratioe	Relative normalized expression ratio		m/h ratio	Relative normalized expression ratio		m/h ratio	Relative normalized expression ratio		m/h ratio
		Hamster	Mouse		Hamster	Mouse		Hamster	Mouse		Hamster	Mouse
IL-1β	0.25	0.87 ± 0.22	2.21 ± 0.22	2.53	2.61 ± 2.03	3.53 ± 1.62	1.36	3.19 ± 0.80	1.21 ± 0.98	0.38	1.44 ± 0.35	2.49 ± 1.15	1.73
	0.5	0.82 ± 0.47	1.76 ± 0.80	2.15	6.14 ± 1.22	2.04 ± 0.52	0.33	1.66 ± 0.42	2.16 ± 1.03	1.30	1.96 ± 0.82	1.72 ± 0.58	0.87
	1	1.38 ± 0.81	1.30 ± 0.45	0.94	3.32 ± 0.95	1.26 ± 0.05	0.38	1.90 ± 0.45	1.08 ± 0.24	0.57	2.37 ± 0.24	3.60 ± 0.89	1.52
	2	1.25 ± 0.43	1.59 ± 0.38	1.27	11.68 ± 2.23	1.79 ± 0.13	0.15	2.86 ± 1.17	1.78 ± 0.62	0.62	2.79 ± 0.22	1.13 ± 0.26	0.41
	3	5.15 ± 1.51	1.41 ± 0.14	0.27	24.37 ± 12.17	4.22 ± 2.46	0.17	5.16 ± 0.57	2.05 ± 0.28	0.40	3.59 ± 0.46	3.41 ± 1.85	0.95
	4–5	2.36 ± 0.64	1.51 ± 0.52	0.64	30.93 ± 7.75	3.22 ± 0.67	0.10	7.62 ± 3.50	2.73 ± 1.07	0.36	1.71 ± 0.26	3.38 ± 1.04	1.97
IL-6	0.25	0.17 ± 0.11	2.02 ± 1.72	12.07	5.58 ± 5.32	10.98 ± 8.49	1.97	1.48 ± 0.30	22.54 ± 36.22	15.21	9.33 ± 6.17	1.48 ± 1.10	0.16
	0.5	2.58 ± 2.23	2.18 ± 1.28	0.84	4.61 ± 1.42	3.28 ± 0.95	0.71	0.78 ± 0.35	6.13 ± 5.09	7.87	6.00 ± 2.36	0.52 ± 0.00	0.09
	1	7.03 ± 0.00	3.02 ± 0.95	0.43	1.00 ± 0.30	0.47 ± 0.23	0.47	1.02 ± 0.02	5.82 ± 1.80	5.72	6.55 ± 6.26	2.98 ± 1.56	0.45
	2	0.53 ± 0.45	2.36 ± 0.76	4.40	6.07 ± 1.96	1.87 ± 1.48	0.31	3.31 ± 3.43	2.67 ± 1.83	0.81	34.35 ± 4.69	0.75 ± 0.36	0.02
	3	6.33 ± 4.87	1.04 ± 1.00	0.16	46.95 ± 46.34	1.76 ± 0.77	0.04	5.19 ± 0.76	13.66 ± 0.48	2.63	10.80 ± 4.29	2.04 ± 0.48	0.19
	4–5	18.96 ± 25.99	0.66 ± 0.43	0.03	13.27 ± 12.59	0.35 ± 0.03	0.03	7.88 ± 4.30	9.80 ± 7.78	1.24	10.46 ± 4.68	2.30 ± 0.58	0.22
TNF-α	0.25	2.23 ± 0.78	6.13 ± 3.96	2.75	6.75 ± 8.93	13.29 ± 12.32	1.97	1.86 ± 0.27	4.84 ± 4.20	2.61	3.96 ± 0.60	2.65 ± 0.70	0.67
	0.5	0.81 ± 0.26	1.95 ± 1.31	2.40	11.02 ± 9.54	2.94 ± 0.18	0.27	1.85 ± 1.30	3.47 ± 1.55	1.88	5.77 ± 1.63	4.41 ± 3.31	0.76
	1	0.80 ± 0.56	1.40 ± 0.42	1.75	3.48 ± 5.22	6.26 ± 1.87	1.80	1.55 ± 0.71	4.55 ± 0.62	2.94	15.28 ± 1.61	3.25 ± 0.24	0.21
	2	1.78 ± 0.07	3.28 ± 0.85	1.84	2.28 ± 0.62	0.82 ± 0.39	0.36	2.71 ± 1.30	1.97 ± 0.65	0.73	10.51 ± 5.41	8.57 ± 2.47	0.82
	3	2.09 ± 0.23	2.55 ± 3.48	1.22	2.41 ± 1.97	11.27 ± 7.39	4.68	4.38 ± 1.84	5.04 ± 1.02	1.15	7.85 ± 1.37	2.82 ± 1.44	0.36
	4–5	4.10 ± 0.42	0.14 ± 0.14	0.03	6.28 ± 1.37	4.71 ± 0.35	0.75	6.09 ± 2.81	1.84 ± 1.00	0.30	5.47 ± 0.47	5.24 ± 0.78	0.96
COX-2	0.25	0.93 ± 0.09	1.18 ± 0.55	1.28	0.73 ± 0.18	47.62 ± 68.94	65.66	2.57 ± 0.16	1.06 ± 0.71	0.41	1.48 ± 0.38	1.83 ± 1.11	1.24
	0.5	0.85 ± 0.67	0.97 ± 0.49	1.15	2.31 ± 1.05	5.77 ± 4.80	2.50	0.47 ± 0.45	4.98 ± 3.32	10.54	1.33 ± 0.14	0.74 ± 0.32	0.56
	1	1.44 ± 1.06	0.59 ± 0.35	0.41	0.73 ± 0.67	1.93 ± 1.60	2.65	1.85 ± 1.26	1.14 ± 0.76	0.62	1.08 ± 0.23	6.91 ± 2.22	6.37
	2	0.61 ± 0.40	0.67 ± 0.37	1.10	3.79 ± 1.24	1.31 ± 0.05	0.35	1.17 ± 0.95	3.56 ± 1.11	3.05	1.65 ± 0.36	0.82 ± 0.19	0.50
	3	3.79 ± 1.31	1.62 ± 0.56	0.43	4.22 ± 4.04	2.28 ± 2.38	0.54	4.41 ± 3.11	0.38 ± 0.20	0.09	1.36 ± 0.18	2.55 ± 0.55	1.88
	4–5	2.65 ± 1.29	1.41 ± 0.88	0.53	5.58 ± 2.86	0.90 ± 0.06	0.16	3.68 ± 3.28	1.65 ± 1.14	0.45	1.82 ± 0.29	4.20 ± 1.34	2.31

^aHamsters and mice were intraperitoneally infected with virulent L. interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae strain Verdun, and expression of target genes was quantified in each tissue by RT-qPCR as described in Materials and Methods.

^bName of target genes.

^cTime p.i. is expressed in days. Quantification at day 4 p.i. in hamsters was compared to quantification at day 5 p.i. in mice.

^dRelative normalized expression ratios were calculated after normalization on reference genes (β-actin and GAPDH) and using noninfected animals as calibrators. Values are means ± standard errors of the means (n = 3).

^eThe m/h ratio represents the ratio of relative normalized expression in mouse to relative normalized expression in hamsters in each tissue. An m/h ratio of >1 represents higher gene expression in mice, and a ratio of <1 represents higher gene expression in hamsters.