Fig. 5

Effects of angiotensin-(1–7) on plasma interleukin-6 and tissue superoxide levels 24 h after procedure. Depicted are the changes in (a) plasma interleukin-6 levels and (b) tissue superoxide levels in rats that underwent sham operation (SOP, n = 5), SOP plus angiotensin-(1–7) administration (1 mg/kg at 3 and 6 h after SOP procedure [SOP-Ad], n = 5), cecal ligation and puncture (CLP, n = 8), and CLP plus angiotensin-(1–7) administration (same regimen after CLP procedure [CLP-Ad], n = 8). Immunoblot analysis of (c) cleaved caspase-3 expression and (d) the cytoplasmic nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor (IκB) in the liver. Rats underwent SOP, SOP plus angiotensin-(1–7) administration (SOP-Ad), CLP, and CLP plus angiotensin-(1–7) administration (CLP-Ad). Liver tissues were harvested at 24 h after surgery. Representative blots are shown on the upper panel, and β-actin served as a loading control. n = 4 for each group. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures was used for interleukin-6 analysis, and one-way ANOVA combined with the Newman-Keuls post hoc test was used for the remaining parameters in between-group comparisons. The p values for one-way ANOVA for superoxide production, cleaved caspase-3, and IκB expression are 0.02, 0.0035, and 0.0038, respectively. Data are shown as median and IQR. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001, CLP vs. SOP; ^#p < 0.05; ^##p < 0.01, CLP-Ad vs. CLP