Histopathology
The lungs, livers, and kidneys from CLP and sham mice were collected, fixed, sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) at the indicated times. The following parameters including bronchitis, edema, interstitial inflammation, intra-alveolar inflammation, pleuritis, endothelialitis, and the percentage of the lung surface demonstrating confluent inflammatory infiltrate were used to score lung inflammation and damage as described in our previous studies. The pathology scores of livers and kidneys were determined according to the following variables: number of thrombi, number of (micro) abscesses, presence and degree of inflammation, and presence and degree of necrosis.