Figure 5

Cytokine level in lung tissue. Groups of mice (n = 21) were infected with AMRI-SP1 and were monitored for the development of pneumonia. 18 h post infection treatment with either AMP at 200 mg/kg or AZM at 50 mg/kg body weight, single dose of antibiotic treatment was initiated. Considering 18^th h to be the zero hour of antibiotic treatment, animals were sacrificed every hour continuing till 24^th h post infection (i.e. 6^th hour post antibiotic treatment). After administration of the single antibiotic dose, lungs were homogenized and assayed for estimation of cytokines. Levels of IL-6 (A); IL-10 (B); TNF-α (C) and IFN-γ (D) were determined and mean ± SD of values obtained were expressed in pg/ml from triplicate experiments. Untreated, S. pneumoniae infected; AMP, S. pneumoniae infected and treated with ampicillin; AZM, S. pneumoniae infected and treated with azithromycin; Combined, S .pneumoniae infected and treated with both ampicillin and azithromycin. ^#, Significant increase or ^*, Significant decrease in combined treatment group compared to monotherapy with AMP or AZM alone at P < 0.05.