## 3 Results
### In Vivo Studies  
#### 3.3.1 Preclinical Studies  
LPS-induced endotoxemia in mice is a reference assay for inducing a high systemic inflammatory response [24]. Suppressing this response by various agents could counteract the endotoxic sepsis and organ dysfunction, increasing survival. In Group 1, following LPS injection, 1 mouse died after 24 h, 3 mice after 45 h, and 1 mouse after 47 h. Group 2 mice injected with LPS and treated with STOMAPET survived. Figure 6 describes the survival rate of mice as a function of time since LPS injection (in hours) for Group 1 (black line) and Group 2 (red line).  
Figure 4: The effect of STOMAPET on SC cells exposed for 24 and 48 h (MTS assay). Values represent mean \(\pm\) SD (n = 3, * \(p\) \(<\) 0.05, ** \(p\) \(<\) 0.01, *** \(p\) \(<\) 0.001).  
Figure 5: The effect of STOMAPET on LPS-stimulated SC cells exposed for 24 and 48 h (MTS assay). Values represent mean \(\pm\) SD (n = 3, * \(p\) \(<\) 0.05, ** \(p\) \(<\) 0.01, *** \(p\) \(<\) 0.001).  
Mice in the two groups were weighed at the time of LPS injection and once every 24 h after injection for 168 h. Figure 2 shows the body mass dependence (g) as mean \(\pm\) SEM of the masses of the 5 mice as a function of the time (hours) elapsed since the LPS injection. In Group 1 (black line) there was a significant decrease in body weight (\(p\) = 0.0130 \(<\) 0.05) at 24 h after LPS injection compared with mass at the time of LPS injection (0 h). In Group 1, at 48 h, no mice survived (see Figure 1). In Group 2 (red line), there was a significant decrease in body weight at 48 h (\(p\) = 0.0113 \(<\) 0.05) and 72 h (\(p\) = 0.0044 \(<\) 0.05) from the time of LPS injection (0 h). However, at 24 h (\(p\) = 0.0577), 144 h (\(p\) = 0.2394), and 168 h (\(p\) = 0.0754), the decreases are insignificant compared to the time of LPS injection (hours) showing that STOMAPET improves in time the decrease in body mass caused by LPS-induced endotoxemia (Figure 7).  
Figure 6: Mortality caused by LPS-induced endotoxemia is prevented by treatment with STOMAPET. Survival rate (%) analyzed according to the time (hours) elapsed since the intraperitoneal injection with LPS (20 mg/kg mouse mass). Group 1 (black line): n = 5 mice, Group 2 (red line): n = 5 mice.  
Figure 7: The decrease in body mass caused by LPS-induced endotoxemia is ameliorated following treatment with STOMAPET. Body mass (g) analyzed according to the time (hours) elapsed since the intraperitoneal injection with LPS (20 mg/kg mouse mass). Group 1 (black dot): n = 5 mice, Group 2 (red dot): n = 5 mice. Values are shown as mean \(\pm\) SEM. The significant decrease is considered at \(p\)\(<\) 0.05 (\({}^{\star}\)).  
Body temperature was measured in mice from the two groups at the time of LPS injection and once every 24 h after injection for 168 h. The temperature was measured in the abdominal area. Prior to LPS injection, temperatures ranged from 34.2 \({}^{\circ}\)C to 35.7 \({}^{\circ}\)C. After 24 h from the time of LPS injection, the temperature of Group 1 mice fell below the detection limit of the device and the method of measurement. However, the body temperature for Group 2 mice could be measured throughout the experiment (0-168 h) and was within normal limits.