Figure 7

Administration of MI-2 protected mice from LPS-induced inflammation, lung injury and death. (a) C57BL/6 mice from Jackson Laboratory were divided into two groups: one group was only injected with a lethal dose of LPS (40 mg/kg body weight, i.p.); the other group was pre-treated with MI-2 (25 mg/Kg body weight, i.p.) at 2 h before LPS injection and another dose at 2 h post-LPS injection. All mice were closely monitored, and ‘moribund status’ was equated with death to minimize the discomfort of the mice. The survival rate was recorded. The data were analyzed by the log-rank Mantel-Cox test. P=0.0091, N=8. (b and d) Adult C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups. Two groups of mice were intraperitoneally injected with PBS or LPS (25 mg/kg body weight) for 8 h. The third group of mice was pretreated with MI-2 for 2 h and then injected with LPS for 8 h; the fourth group of mice was injected with LPS for 2 h and then treated with MI-2. Mice were euthanized 8 h after LPS injection. Sera and lungs were collected for ELISA, H&E staining or qPCR analysis. The serum cytokine levels were measured by ELISA (d), and lung sections were analyzed by H&E staining (b). Data are presented as the means±s.d. (n=3). *P<0.05 by Student’s t-test. Data are representative of three independent experiments. (c) Changes of lung wet-to-dry weight ratios in mice. Data are presented as the means±s.d. (n=3), *P<0.05 by Student’s t-test. (e) qPCR analysis of the mRNA levels for selected cytokines and chemokines in the lungs collected from the mice in (b). Data are representative of three independent experiments with 3 mice per group. *P<0.05 by Student’s t-test.