Kinetics of weight and kidney histopathology and function during leptospirosis infection.

<p>Animals were weighed at the time of subcutaneous (panels A and C) and intradermal (panels B and D) challenge (day zero) and daily thereafter. Panels A and B show mean change in weight relative to the previous day compared with the mean total serum protein (TSP) concentration showing weight loss and hemoconcentration beginning on day 6. Panels C and D show mean renal histopathology scores and mean serum creatinine, showing that abnormal histopathology preceded changes in kidney function tests. Error bars show standard deviation of the mean. Vertical dashed line indicates the point at which animals began to meet endpoint criteria. The number of asterisks indicate the level of significance compared to the control group (*P≤0.05, ** P≤0.01, ***P≤0.001, ****P≤0.0001). There were no differences between hamsters challenged subcutaneously and intradermally except for % weight change on day 7 after challenge.