Fresh heparinized blood from spontaneously breathing (SB) untreated rabbits (n = 10), rabbits subjected to 24-hour MV as described above (n = 5), or either SB or MV rabbits given atorvastatin (20 mg/kg once a day) 72 hours prior to venipuncture was obtained and diluted 1:2 with RPMI 1640 medium (GibcoTM Life Technologies, Saint Aubin, France). Blood was plated at 120 μL/well in a 96-well plate and incubated for 15 minutes at 37°C. Atorvastatin pills were dissolved in RPMI 1640 medium (10 nmol/mL in final volume), added to whole blood (60 μL/well) and incubated for 24 hours at 37°C. Then, heat-killed S. aureus (HKSA) were added and the blood was incubated for 24 hours at 37°C . Cell viability was checked (propidium iodide dying assay) and culture supernatants were finally removed and kept frozen at -80°C until cytokine concentrations were determined.