Figure 4.

Honokiol suppresses S. aureus-induced inflammation in mice. (a) Histological analyses of mouse livers. C57BL/6 mice were administered an intraperitoneal injection of PBS as a control (image a), 200 μL of resuspended S. aureus DU1090 as a negative control (image b) or S. aureus 8325-4 as a positive control (image c) (1 × 10⁸ CFUs per 200 μL). After 3 h, S. aureus 8325-4-infected C57BL/6 mice were treated with 25 and 50 mg/kg of Honokiol (images d and e, respectively) for 24 h. Mouse liver tissues were stained with H&E (×20). The images shown are representative of the results from independent experiments (n = 3). The red arrows indicate the infiltrated cells. (b) IL-1β and IL-18 production in the blood serum collected from mouse eyes. Mice were treated as described above. *Indicates P < 0.05 and **Indicates P < 0.01 when compared with the control group.