Figure 4.

HO₂-EV–injected mice have increased ASC and GSDMD (gasdermin D) expression in the lungs. (A) Immunostaining with an anti-ASC antibody detected increased ASC expression in small vasculatures and infiltrated AMs in the HO₂-EV–injected lung sections. (B) Zoomed magnification in the red box. (C) Immunostaining with an anti-GSDMD antibody detected increased GSDMD expression in the alveolar macrophages in the HO₂-EV–injected lung sections. (D) Zoomed magnification in the red box. Objective magnification, 20×. Scale bars, 50 μm. (E–H) qRT-PCR detected increased Gsdmd (E), casp3 (F), casp8 (G), and Ripk3 (H) gene expression in HO₂-EV–injected lungs compared with the other two groups. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001. n = 6 per group. AMs = alveolar macrophages; rRNA = ribosomal RNA.