VIP KO mice exhibit reduced mortality and lung histopathology in response to LPS injection.

<p>Female WT (C57BL6) and VIP KO mice were injected i.p. with LPS (40 mg/Kg). A, Kaplan Meier curve analysis of survival cumulative of four experiments (total WT n = 29; VIP KO n = 28) (Curve comparison Logrank test **p<0.01). B, Representative sections of lungs from control (noninjected) or LPS-injected WT and VIP KO mice (24 hours post injection) stained with H&E. C, Histological scores of LPS-injected WT vs. VIP KO mice (mean of two experiments; total WT n = 7; VIP KO n = 9), 24 hours after LPS injection, scored from 0 to 3 according to the level of lung inflammation as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036922#s2" target="_blank"><i>Materials and Methods</i></a>. (Student's <i>t</i>-test *p<0.05).</p

Peritoneal cells from VIP KO mice exhibit an intrinsic defect in cytokine response to LPS- administration.

<p>Peritoneal cells were collected from WT (n = 3) and VIP KO mice (n = 3), and cultured in complete RPMI in triplicate in the presence or absence of LPS (10 ng/ml). Supernatants were collected 2 (A) and 16 h (B) later, and stored at −20°C for analysis of TNFα and IL-6 levels by ELISA. Student's <i>t</i>-test *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001. Representative data are shown of four independent experiments.</p

VIP KO mice exhibit reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the peritoneal fluid and serum.

<p>Female WT (C57BL6) (n = 6) and VIP KO mice (n = 6) were injected i.p. with LPS (40 mg/Kg), and serum and peritoneal suspensions were collected 0, 3 and 6 (and also 24 for IL-10) hours post-injection. The levels of TNFα, IL-6, IL-12p40 and IL-10 were assessed by sandwich ELISA as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036922#s2" target="_blank"><i>Materials and Methods</i></a>. Student's <i>t</i>-test *p<0.05; **p<0.01. One of three representative experiments is shown.</p