Figure 3: Platelets inhibit inflammation and protect against septic shock in a bacterial infusion sepsis model.

(a,b) Mice were injected i.p. with a rat antimouse GPIbα monoclonal antibody or rat IgG control. After 4 h, the mice were injected i.p. with 0.2 ml saline containing 2 × 10⁷ colony-forming unit (CFU) of E. coli ATCC 25922 per mouse. Blood was collected from these mice before or at 1, 2, 4 and 8 h after injection of bacteria. TNF-α (a) and IL-6 (b) concentrations in plasma were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Values are means±s.d. (n=6). Differences between two groups were assessed using unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test. (c) C57BL/6 mice were injected i.p. with a rat antimouse GPIbα monoclonal antibody or control rat IgG (4 μg g⁻¹ of body weight). After 4 h, the mice were injected with 0.2 ml saline containing 2 × 10⁷ CFU of E. coli ATCC 25922. Survival rate was observed for up to 3 days. P-value was calculated by Wald’s test in a discrete time hazard model using version 9.2 of SAS software.