Fig 4. NTM modulates blood and vascular responses to sepsis.

(A) Cytokines/chemokine measured in blood plasma by cytometric bead array before and at 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h after CS infection. Antibiotic therapy with meropenem began at 12 h post-infection. (n = 20 mice/group; p values calculated by two-way repeated measures ANOVA). IFN-γ measured by ELISA in blood plasma before and at 2 h, 6 h and 12 h after CS infection. (vehicle + antibiotic, n = 8; cSN50.1 + antibiotic, n = 13; p values calculated by two-way repeated measures ANOVA). (B) Total WBC, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, and platelets in whole blood collected 12 h after infection from sham-infected or CS-infected mice treated with NTM (cSN50.1) or vehicle. Bars represent median values from 5 mice/group (p values determined by Mann-Whitney test). (C) Soluble E-selectin, L-selectin, and P-selectin measured in blood plasma before and at 12 h and 24 h after CS infection. Antibiotic therapy with meropenem began at 12 h post-infection. (p values for sE-selectin and sL-selectin calculated by two-way repeated measures ANOVA, p value for sP-selectin determined by Mann-Whitney test at 24 h only, n = 9/group). (D) Representative images (400x magnification) and quantification of neutrophils (indicated by arrows) in the hepatic parenchyma of livers collected 12 h after infection from sham-infected or CS-infected mice treated with NTM (cSN50.1) or vehicle. The percentage of positive brown (DAB-positive) stained cells was calculated as a total analyzed number of positive cells divided by total number cells in the section of liver. Bars represent median values from 5 mice/group (p values determined by Mann-Whitney test).