Thioflavin T (ThT) was added at an exposure concentration of 5 µM to 200 µl of PPP (incubated for 1 min, and protected from light). A second sample was also prepared by adding an exposure concentration of 0.2 ng l−1 LPS (incubate for 10 min, at room temperature) before the addition of ThT. After an incubation time of 1 min and incubation protected from light, 10 µl of the PPP (with and without LPS) was mixed with 5 µl of thrombin (see SEM preparation of extensive fibrin fibres—as described above). To determine if ThT binding will happen in the presence of LBP, 2 ng l−1 LBP was pre-incubated for 10 min with PPP, followed by 1 min ThT exposure, and fibrin fibre preparation by adding thrombin. A mixture of LPS and LBP was also made (final PPP exposure concentration: 0.2 ng l−1 LPS and 2 ng l−1 LBP). PPP was exposed for 10 min to this mixture, followed by a 1 min exposure of ThT and fibrin fibre formation by adding thrombin to mixture-exposed PPP. Samples were viewed under a Zeiss LSM 510 META confocal microscope with a Plan-Apochromat 63×/1.4 Oil DIC objective, excitation was at 488 nm and emission measured at 505–550.