Fig. 5

Effect of sepsis and running exercise on capillary bed plugging in the extensor digitorum longus muscle, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) protein, and systemic arterial blood platelet count, in aged mice. a Capillary density in the extensor digitorum longus muscle was computed from the sum of capillaries with moving red blood cells (RBC) and stationary RBC. There was no effect of sepsis or exercise on total capillary density: n = 9, 6, 7, and 6 for bars, left to right, respectively. b Capillary plugging, computed as the percentage of capillaries with stationary RBC from the total of capillaries (perfused plus stationary RBC capillaries). Sepsis (7 h post fecal injection into the peritoneum (FIP)) increased plugging in both exercised and non-exercised mice. Running exercise reduced this increase. *Effect of sepsis versus control, ^#effect of running exercise versus non-exercise; P < 0.05: n = 9, 6, 7, and 6 for bars, left to right, respectively. c Sepsis (7 h post-FIP) did not significantly alter eNOS levels assessed by immunoblot. Running exercise, however, significantly increased eNOS in skeletal muscle of both controls and septic mice: ^#effect of running exercise versus non-exercise; P < 0.05; n = 4 per bar. d Sepsis (7 h post-FIP) reduced platelet count in non-exercised mice, but not in exercised mice: *effect of sepsis versus control; P < 0.05; n = 9, 6, 7, and 6 for bars, left to right, respectively