Sepsis gene expression profiling: murine splenic compared with hepatic responses determined by using complementary DNA microarrays.

Objective: DNA microarrays allow genome-wide assessment of changes in relative messenger RNA abundance and thus can be used to monitor changes in gene expression. The aim of this series of experiments was to gain experience in sepsis gene expression profiling in a well-accepted model of murine polymicrobial abdominal sepsis and begin characterizing (in the parlance of genomics) the sepsis "transcriptome."

Design: Prospective animal study.