TNF and Sepsis: Figure 8 illustrates sepsis decreased IGF-I mRNA in both male and female mice, but the reduction was greater (P<0.05) in both WT and DKO female mice. Elevations in inflammatory cytokines can contribute to muscle catabolism and inhibit mTOR [41]. In male mice, sepsis only increased muscle TNFα mRNA in DKO mice, not WT animals (Figure 9A), whereas sepsis increased TNFα in both genotypes of female mice (Figure 9B). A sepsis-induced increase in muscle IL-6 mRNA was detected in both male and female WT and DKO mice (Figure 9C and 9D), with the increase being greater in male DKO mice.