We next examined whether the LPS injection into the somatosensory cortex induces systemic immune responses. For this purpose, we measured IL-6 protein levels in the brains and sera at 6 hours after LPS. LPS strongly elevated IL-6 protein in both, which was dramatically inhibited by fenofibrate (Fig. 4). Although a previous study reported splenic atrophy at 4 days after ischemic stroke in mice (Offner et al., 2006), there was no detectable difference in spleen size at 3 days between saline- and LPS-injected groups (data not shown).
