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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jul 24.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Nephrol. 2016 Nov 21;13(1):5–6. doi: 10.1038/nrneph.2016.171

Figure 1. Current theories of the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie organ failure in sepsis.

Figure 1

Three main theories exist: abnormal microcirculatory flow leading to cellular oxygen deficiency; inflammation-induced cell injury, protein breakdown and immunosuppression; cell hibernation and cell stunning (that is a switch to fetal gene expression and a low-energy state).