FIG. 4.

Polysaccharide-mediated protection against mortality and abscess formation associated with experimental intra-abdominal sepsis (62). Animals were treated prophylactically with saline, PGG-glucan, PS A, or a combination of these polymers and challenged with rat cecal contents. The challenge inoculum is titrated to yield approximately a 50% mortality rate with 100% abscess formation in surviving animals. Results are taken from two separate experiments. (A) Mortality rates in animals treated with PGG-glucan or with the combination of PGG-glucan and PS A were significantly reduced (∗) compared with the saline-treated control group. (B) Abscess formation was significantly reduced (∗) in animals treated with PS A or the combination of PS A and PGG-glucan compared with the saline-treated controls. These results demonstrate that administration of two polysaccharide immunomodulators can prevent both phases of intra-abdominal sepsis in the absence of antibiotic therapy.