Fig. 2.

Assessment of mesenteric blood flow in healthy and septic mice. A: experimental setup involving exteriorization of a section of the small intestine through a small abdominal incision and careful pinning through the gut wall to expose the mesenteric vascular bed. Mice were placed on a parafilm-coated homeothermic blanket coupled to a rectal temperature probe. The exposed mesenteric bed was moistened with prewarmed aerosolized saline solution. B: core body temperature measured by rectal probe during baseline blood flow recording in naive and sham-operated animals and at 6 and 24 h post-LPS and -CLP (means ± SE; n = 10–21). C: representative flux images taken during baseline recording. Cold colors indicate low flow; warmer colors higher flow. Mesenteric blood flow is expressed as total area under the curve (AUC; ×10³ flux units/time) over 5-min baseline recording in first (D), second (E), and third-order vessels (F), in naive and sham-operated animals and 6 and 24 h post-LPS and -CLP. AUC for each animal is represented as an individual symbol, with mean for each group denoted by a horizontal line. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 relative to naive/sham, and #P < 0.05, ###P < 0.001 relative to 6 h (one-way ANOVA + Bonferroni post hoc test).