Fig. 1

Vitamin C, hydrocortisone, and thiamine therapy in a pre-clinical sepsis model. a Among CLP mice, > 50% of those in the control group are dead within 3 days, whereas all mice in the intervention group are alive during the 4-day treatment period and only started to die after cessation of treatment. b After 24 h of CLP, serum TNF-α level (measured by ELISA) is significantly increased in CLP mice, whereas it is significantly reduced in treated mice. The data are shown as the mean ± SD. **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. c qRT-PCR quantification of HMOX1 and PTGS2 mRNA expression in hepatocytes during sepsis. After 7 days of CLP, relative quantification of HMOX1 and PTGS2 expression shows they are significantly increased in CLP mice, whereas they are significantly decreased in treated mice. The data are shown as a ratio of the treated mice to the controls (set as 1.0) and are presented as the mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, and ****p < 0.0001; one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. d Liver tissues are harvested 7 days after CLP for histopathologic assessment. Representative liver sections showing reduced hepatocyte swelling and necrosis in treated mice (H & E staining; scale bar: 50 μm). CLP cecal ligation and puncture, ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, HMOX1 heme oxygenase 1, ns not significant, PTGS2 prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2, qRT-PCR quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, TNF-α tumor necrosis factor-α