Figure 1: Vimentin is required for ALI and inflammasome activation in response to LPS.

(a) Survival of WT and Vim^−/− mice subjected to a lethal dose of LPS (80 mg kg⁻¹, intraperitoneally) was measured and compared. The survival curves were analysed using the log rank test, which calculates the chi-square (χ²) for each event time for each group and sums the results. The summed results for each group were added to derive the ultimate chi-square to compare the full curves of each group. The log rank test for the entire data set was P=0.001. (b–f) WT and Vim^−/− mice were challenged with a sublethal dose of LPS and markers of ALI were measured after 48 h, as assessed by H&E staining (scale bar, 200 μm) (b); by wet-to-dry lung weight ratio (c); and by protein content in the BALF (d). Inflammasome activation was measured by ELISA for caspase-1 (e) or IL-1β (f) in BALF from Vim^−/− and WT mice. Data in b–e are from three independent experiments of n=6–8 animals per group and presented as mean±s.d. **P<0.001, ***P<0.0001 relative to WT versus Vim^−/−, by one-way analysis of variance with a correction provided by the Bonferroni multiple comparisons test.