A separate group of the AF, PF and AD rats treated with the MeCP2-sh or scr-sh (control) lentivirus were used in an immune stress experiment. Animals were injected intraperitoneally with 100 µg/kg body weight of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) in saline or with saline alone as a control. After 2 hrs, trunk blood samples were collected in tubes containing ethylenediaminetetracetic acid (EDTA) and centrifuged at 2,000 rpm for 15 minutes to prepare plasma samples, which were used to determine hormone assays. Plasma samples were used for determination of corticosterone or ACTH levels using the rat corticosterone enzyme-linked immunoassay (IBLAmerica, Mineopolis, MN) and rodent ACTH ELISA (Phoenix Pharmaceuticals; Burlingame, CA) following the manufacturer's instructions.
