Figure 1.

Expression of inflammasome proteins and the IL-1 cytokines in normal mouse lung epithelium. (a–c) Serial sections showing positive labelling for Nlrp3 (a) and total caspase-1 (b) in epithelia of three bronchioles; labelling for caspase-1 was blocked by specific peptide. No blocking peptide for Nlrp3 was available. (d–k) Serial sections showing positive and colocalized labelling of Nlrp3 and caspase-1 (d-e, red), Nlrp3, IL-1β, and IL-18 (g–i, red), and caspase-1 and ASC (j-k). (f) Negligible fluorescence was detected using normal rabbit IgG as a negative control for Nlrp3 and all other rabbit antibodies employed in this panel. Blue is DAPI counterstaining of nuclei. Images are representative of similar results from 8 control mice challenged with saline and 3 naive mice. The scale bars are in microns.