5.6. Quantification of inflammatory molecules (Luminex)

Following the enumeration of bacteria, in order to measure the quantities of cytokines and chemokines present within tissues, 200 uL aliquots of homogenate were centrifuged for 5 min at 2000 rpm. Supernatants were removed for cytokine analysis and stored at - 80 °C prior to analysis. Luminex (Bio-plex^®; 23-plex mouse inflammatory cytokine kit) assay was carried out in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions (Bio-Rad™) and using the Bio-plex^® 200 reader. Fluorescent readings from all individual biological replicates per time-point for each agent were normalised to the arithmetic mean fluorescent value of three time and agent matched control samples. Data in the table is expressed as the arithmetic mean of this control normalised value.