Animals were anesthetized in 0.03% tricaine methane sulfonate (MS-222; Sigma-Aldrich) in fish water and injected intraperitoneally (volume: 2 μL) with saline, LPS (10 mg/mL, L2630; Sigma-Aldrich), or zymosan (10 mg/mL, Z4250; Sigma-Aldrich) in saline, as previously described (22 (link)). Treated animals were then placed in aquaria and allowed to survive for 6 d before the retrograde labeling of motoneurons (as described in Motoneuron Labeling) and allowed to survive for an additional 24 h. During the sterile inflammation treatment all animals were kept under the standard housing conditions.