Respective control and LPS samples (75 μL per sample, n=3) were concentrated and desalted using C18 tips (NT1C18; Glygen) as per the manufacturer’s protocol, except that the binding and washing steps were repeated five times before elution.13 (link) The samples were eluted and spotted on a MALDI 384 target plate, dried, and overlaid with an equal volume of sinapinic acid (10 mg/mL in 0.1% FA in 30% of ACN). The spots were analyzed using an Ultraflex II MALDI-TOF/TOF instrument (Bruker Daltonics) in a positive ion linear mode. The instrument was calibrated using a 5–17.5 kDa protein standard (Bruker Daltonics), and the MS data for peptides in the range of 1–10 kDa were collected in an automated mode using the Bruker Flex control software with a constant laser power and 800 laser shots per spot.