Fig. 5
From: Delay in antibiotic therapy results in fatal disease outcome in murine pneumococcal pneumonia
Early antibiotic treatment reduced lung barrier failure and VEGF levels. Mice were infected with S. pneumoniae and assigned equally to groups and analysis time points (a, d ntotal = 9, b, c ntotal = 4 per time point). Starting 24 h or 48 h p.i., intervention groups were treated with ampicillin. As controls, mice were sham infected (PBS; a, d ntotal = 7, b, c ntotal = 4 per time point) or treated with solvent (0.9% NaCl). Mice surviving until designated analysis time point were sacrificed for BAL and blood sampling (number analyzed per time point presented in Additional file 1: Table S1) or histopathological analysis (number analyzed per time point presented in Additional file 1: Table S2). a Ratios of mouse serum albumin (MSA) BALF/serum reflecting lung barrier integrity, calculated from ELISA readouts. b Lung edema score, calculated from specified histopathological parameters displaying perivascular and alveolar edema formation. Results pooled from two independent experiments per time point. Median and 25–75% interquartile range. c Representative H&E staining. *Perivascular edema, #alveolar edema. Scale bars: 100 μm. d VEGF levels measured in BAL fluid by multiplex analysis. a, d Results pooled from three independent experiments per time point. Mean ± SEM. Two-way ANOVA/Sidak’s multiple comparisons test for comparison of ampicillin versus solvent treatment. a, b Kruskal–Wallis test/Dunn’s multiple comparisons test and d one-way ANOVA/Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test for comparison to S. pneumoniae-infected mice at therapy start. *Significant difference between groups at time point, #significant difference from therapy start: a, b, d */#p < 0.05, **/##p < 0.01. Abx antibiotics, BALF bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, Ctr control, PBS phosphate buffered saline, p.i. post infection, S. pn. Streptococcus pneumoniae