Heart rate elevations during early sepsis predict death in fluid-resuscitated rats with fecal peritonitis

Fig. 1. Timeline long-term experiments including heart rate monitoring and mortality. AB antibiotics; OP operation (instrumentation)

Fig. 2. Timeline for short-term experiments including hemodynamic measurements and blood sampling. The 4 h timepoint is prior to fluid resuscitation. AB antibiotics; OP operation (instrumentation)

Fig. 3. Kaplan-Meier survival curves in septic animals according to the change in heart rate between baseline and 4 h of sepsis. Twenty-four septic Wistar rats were observed for 48 h. Survival curves are shown for animals with a change in heart rate between baseline and 4 h of < 50 bpm (dashed line; mortality 1/15 = 7%) and those with a change ≥ 50 bpm (continuous line; mortality 7/9 = 78%), log rank p < 0.001

Fig. 4. Heart rate in septic animals. Temporal changes of telemetry-monitored heart rate after induction of sepsis in 8 non-survivors (black triangles), 16 sepsis survivors (black squares), and 6 sham animals (open circles). Baseline refers to the timepoint 15 min after slurry injection in septic animals (or 15 min after end of instrumentation in sham animals). Symbols indicate means (SEM). Significant group differences (p < 0.05): *sham versus non-survivors, $ sham versus survivors, £ survivors versus non-survivors. Data of non-survivors were only displayed until 12 h, to avoid a selection bias due to mortality

Fig. 5. Heart rate variability in septic animals. Baseline refers to the timepoint 15 min after slurry injection in septic animals (or 15 min after end of instrumentation in sham animals). In the top figure, temporal changes of the standard deviation (SD) of normal-to-normal (NN) inter-beat intervals are depicted. Total power (TP) is shown in the middle figure. Both represent global parameters of HRV. The bottom figure shows the ratio between low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF), reflecting the relationship between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. Symbols indicate means (SEM). Eight non-survivors (black triangles), 16 survivors (black squares), and 6 sham animals (open circles).Significant group differences (p < 0.05): *sham versus non-survivors, £ survivors versus non-survivors