Figure 3

The protective effect of vitamin D3 correlated with low concentrations of proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 and high concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in cerebellum homogenates of mice dying during the acute phase of infection. Cytokines and chemokines were measured in (A) cerebellum and (B) spleen homogenates of mice of the survival experiments (time of death or killed because of severe clinical symptoms after intracerebral E. coli K1 infection (4,000 CFU/mouse): median = 44 h). Each symbol represents the measurement from an individual mouse (n ≥ 7 per group). Horizontal bars indicate median values. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and corrected for repeated testing with the Bonferroni method (*P < 0.05, ns: not significant). The time of the tissue collection was not the same for all animals. Filled circles, standard vitamin D (S-VitD) diet-fed mice (vitamin D3 concentration 1,500 IU/kg food); filled squares, low vitamin D (L-VitD) diet-fed mice (vitamin D3 concentration less than the detection level); filled triangles, high vitamin D (H-VitD) diet-fed mice (vitamin D3 concentration 75,000 IU/kg food).