Intraluminal flagellin and <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> O83:H1 synergistically induced systemic cytokine production following burn injury.

<p>Mice were gavaged with 5 ug of flagellin and/or 1 X 10⁵ CFU EC 2h prior to burn. Animals were humanely euthanized at 24 (white bars) or 48h (black bars) post-burn and serum (<b>A</b> and <b>B</b>), MLNs and lungs (<b>C</b> and <b>D</b>) were collected and analyzed for MCP-1 (<b>A</b> and <b>C</b>) and CXCL1/KC (<b>B</b> and <b>D</b>) by ELSIA. Groups are as described in the methods and results including sham, non-burned controls (<i>NB</i>), 30% TBSA injury (<i>B</i>), EC and 30% TBSA (<i>B+EC</i>), 5ug flagellin and 30% TBSA (<i>B+F</i>) and the gavaged combination of EC and flagellin prior to burn (<i>B+F+EC</i>). Data are represented as mean±SEM from at least 5 animals in a group. Comparisons with statistically different values are denoted as follows: (<b>A & B</b>) MCP-1 and CXCL1/KC were significantly higher in the serum of the <i>B+EC+F</i> group vs. all other groups (*p<0.01). (<b>C</b>) MCP-1 was significantly higher in the MLNs of <i>B</i> and <i>B+EC</i> at 24h compared to <i>NB</i> (*p<0.05). MCP-1 was significantly elevated in the lungs of <i>B+EC</i> and <i>B+F</i> groups at 24h compared to <i>B</i> lungs (**p<0.05). <i>B+EC+F</i> induced maximal levels of MCP-1 in the MLNs and lungs at 48h vs. all other groups (#p<0.05). (<b>D</b>) CXCL1/KC was significantly higher in the lungs of all groups compared to non-burned (#p<0.05). CXCL1/KC was significantly higher in the MLNs of <i>B+EC</i> mice compared to all other groups (*p<0.01). <i>B+F</i> and <i>B+EC+F</i> groups had significantly higher levels of CXCL1/KC in the lungs at 48h vs. all other groups (**p<0.05).