Serum cytokines/chemokine levels in the short-term and long-term subgroups for the control, LPS-, and DSP4+LPS-treated rats.

<p>All levels are expressed in pg/mL ± SEM. In the short-term subgroup, serum cytokine levels including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, TNFα, IFNγ, and the chemokine IP-10 were significantly different between the three groups. Tukey’s <i>post hoc</i> test suggest that the NE lesion caused by the DSP4 toxin exacerbated the immune response caused by the LPS challenge in the short-term, with increased cytokine levels in the DSP4+LPS group compared to the LPS group. The absence of differences in serum cytokine levels between the 3 treatment groups in the long-term suggests that the acute cytokine response to the LPS-induced systemic inflammation was resolved after 7 days.