Fig. 2

Course of left ventricular end-systolic elastance/effective arterial elastance (Ees/Ea) (A) and end-diastolic elastance (Eed) (B) over time in the 4 rat groups. (○: low tidal volume (LTV), ●: LTV + lipopolysaccharide (LTV + LPS), □: high tidal volume (HTV), ■: HTV + LPS. a Ees/Ea decreased over time in all groups (p < 0.001) except for the LTV group (p = 0.428). A decrease in Ees/Ea was observed in the rats subjected to high tidal volume ventilation vs. low tidal volume ventilation (p = 0.007), as well in the rats receiving LPS vs. non-LPS (p = 0.045). b Eed remained unchanged over time in the LTV group (p = 0.223), but increased in the LTV + LPS (p = 0.036), HTV (p < 0.001) and HTV + LPS (p = 0.001) group. An interaction between tidal ventilation and LPS was found for Ees/Ea and Eed (p < 0.001) and all the rats receiving HTV + LPS died before the end of the experiment. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Error bars represent ± SE