Fig 1.
Adult male F344 rats (n = 7/group/time point) either were exposed to 100, 5-second, 1.6-mA inescapable tail shocks (stress) or remained in their home cages (no stress). Immediately after stressor termination, all rats were injected subcutaneously with live E coli (∼2.5 × 109 colony-forming units [CFU]). Rats were sacrificed 2, 4, or 6 hours after bacterial challenge, and inflammatory sites, previously inoculated with E coli, were excised. Two sites were collected for each rat and combined. Inflammatory sites were homogenized, plated, and quantified. No viable bacteria were recovered from control skin sites. The bacterial counts (CFU) are presented in scientific nomenclature on a log10 scale. All figures represent mean ± standard error of the mean. Stress vs no stress, F-PLSD *P < 0.05