Figure 3. Lovastatin treatment prevents impairment of short and long-term aversive memory after sepsis.

C57BL/6 mice (n = 5–10/group) were inoculated with fecal supernatant (2.5 mg/g b.w.). For control, one group was inoculated with saline (0.9%). Control and mice challenged with fecal supernatant were divided and one group was treated with lovastatin (20 mg/kg b.w.) 1 hour prior to feces or saline injection respectively, and every 24 h for 3 days. All the animals received imipenem (10 mg/kg b.w.) 6 hours after inoculation and every 24 h for 3 days. On day 15 all animals were subjected to a training session of inhibitory avoidance task, where the latency time on the platform is recorded and an electrical shock is given immediately after the mice step down onto the bars. (A) 1.5 (Short-term memory) and (B) 24 h (long-term memory) aversive memory was then tested by recording the latency time on the platform (with a cut-off of 180 sec). Data are expressed as individual values and horizontal lines represent the mean of latency, in seconds; significant difference compared between saline versus feces injected mice (comparisons among groups were performed by Mann-Whitney U test, *p<0.05).