Mice were injected (i.v.) with β2AR antagonist ICI 118 551 and subjected to 20 minutes of sham (no stimulation), intact, afferent, or efferent VNS with LPS (i.v.) or sterile PBS injected after the first 10 min (A). TNFα in serum collected from mice treated with ICI 118 551 ± LPS with sham, intact VNS (VNS) afferent VNS (aVNS) or efferent VNS (eVNS) was assessed by ELISA (B) (LPS ***P=0.0003; LPS + VNS **P=0.0094; LPS + aVNS ***P=0.0003; LPS + eVNS ***P=0.0005). Expression of Tnf and Il6 mRNA expression following LPS challenge in mice receiving intact or afferent VNS in the spleen (C, E) (Tnf: LPS ***P=0.0004; LPS + VNS **P=0.0083; LPS + aVNS ****P<0.0001; Il6: LPS+VNS *P=0.0249; LPS + aVNS **P=0.0061) and MLN (D, F) (Tnf: LPS **P=0.0027; LPS + VNS ***P=0.0009; LPS + aVNS ***P=0.0001; Il6: LPS **P=0.004; LPS + VNS ***P=0.0002; LPS + aVNS *P=0.0134) was determined by qPCR. n=5–7 per group; * compared with PBS treatment. Data are presented mean ± SD, one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test.