TABLE 2

Maternal plasma cytokine levels after endotoxin administration

Pregnant rats were administered various doses of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide) and sacrificed 6 or 24 h later. Plasma was immediately isolated from the collected blood, and the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 were determined via ELISA. Cytokine levels are calculated in the unit of picograms per milliliter of plasma. Data represent the mean ± S.E.M.

Saline
0.1 mg/kg
0.5 mg/kg
1.0 mg/kg
pg/ml
TNF-α
    6 h 17.65 ± 0.12 37.43 ± 12.56 306.78 ± 67.18* 459.00 ± 172.21
    24 h 16.93 ± 1.59 21.73 ± 5.41 18.97 ± 2.38 37.95 ± 0.12
IL-6
    6 h 83.52 ± 48.22 245.27 ± 131.53 274.79 ± 40.41* 369.02 ± 98.42
    24 h
103.80 ± 15.67
121.72 ± 83.52
134.22 ± 10.50
3033.06 ± 639.85*

  • ↵* p < 0.05, as compared with saline control.