Fig. 1.

hAFSCs improved mortality and serum cytokine levels in LPS-induced neonatal sepsis. a Timecourse of the experimental protocol. Three-day-old rat pups were injected LPS intraperitoneally. Three hours before LPS exposure, rats were treated with hAFSCs or saline. b Survival rate until 30 days after LPS administration in control (n = 30), LPS (n = 40), and hAFSCs+LPS group (n = 28). hAFSCs treatment significantly improved survival compared to saline-treated animals after LPS exposure. c Levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β, and IL-6 in serum in the control (n = 5), LPS (n = 7), and hAFSCs+LPS group (n = 6). Results are presented as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05