FIG. 3.

In vitro cytokine release capacity of blood from healthy donors stimulated with Borrelia lysate or LPS. Human whole blood diluted 1:5 was incubated without a stimulus (con) or with Borrelia lysate (10 μg/ml), endotoxin from S. enterica serovar Abortusequi (200 pg/ml) (A), endotoxin from E. coli (10 ng/ml) (B), endotoxin from K. pneumoniae (100 pg/ml) (C), or endotoxin from S. enterica serovar Enteritidis (50 pg/ml) (D) for 24 h at 37°C. Cytokines in the cell-free supernatant were measured by ELISA. Data are depicted as means ± SEM of results from four healthy donors. P values of 0.05, ≤0.01, and ≤0.001 versus lysate were considered significant and are indicated by ∗∗, and ∗∗∗, respectively.