Aging is accompanied by an altered stress response that underlies increased susceptibility
of the elderly patients to physiological stress such as infection and sepsis. In the present
study, we investigated the effects of aging on mortality, hypothermia, and cytokine induction
in mouse models of intra-abdominal sepsis and endotoxemia. Systemic inflammation
associated with either cecal ligation/puncture (CLP) or injection with bacterial endotoxin,
lipopolysaccharide (LPS), resulted in a significantly elevated mortality rate in aged (24 …