Figure 1.

Malnourished mice exhibit heightened baseline inflammation and an exaggerated inflammatory response to bacterial ligands. (A) Inflammatory cytokines in serum of control (Con) or malnourished (MN) mice determined by Luminex assay (n=8-9 mice per group). (B) Cytokine mRNA expression determined by qRT-PCR in skin from the dorsal foot of control and MN mice (n=4-5 mice per group) 24 hours post-injection with 10 µg LPS in 20 µL of PBS or an equal volume of PBS alone. Fold-change determined by ratio of expression of target mRNA in LPS-administered vs. PBS. Data shown are pooled from 2 independent experiments. (C) TNF concentration determined by ELISA in supernatants of peritoneal macrophages isolated from control and MN mice cultured for 4 hours with or without 10 ng/mL LPS or 20 µg/mL lipotechoic acid (LTA). TNF-α levels were below the limit of detection in the supernatant of untreated cells. (D) Weight change in control and MN mice that were challenged intraperitoneally with 4 mg/kg LPS. Shown is the percentage of starting weight at 24 hours post-challenge. Data presented is pooled from three independent experiments. (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 ****p < 0.0001).