Fig.1.

Study protocol and in vitro experimental set-up. (A) Blood was collected (for plasma and serum samples respectively) and sublingual non-invasive incident dark field videomicroscopy was performed at three different time points: after arrival at the emergency department (ED; n = 8), after admission at the intensive care unit (ICU; n = 8) and 24 hours later (ICU+24 h; n = 8). (B) Human endothelial cells were seeded and culture until a monolayer was formed. After starvation in 1% human serum albumin (HSA), endothelial cells were exposed to plasma from traumatic hemorrhagic shock patients collected at ED admission, ICU admission or 24 h later. Measurements were performed using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS; experiment I.) or via immunofluorescence imaging (IF imaging; experiment II.).