FIGURE 5.

Ethanol enhances the production of IL-18 and IL-1β in WT astroglial cells. (A,B) Graphs represent the levels of IL-18 (A) and IL-1β (B) measured in the supernatant medium of the WT and TLR4-KO astrocytes treated with ATP, LPS or ethanol (10 and 50 mM) for 24 h. Incubation with Z-YVAD-FMK, Z-VAD-FMK, the NLRP3 blocking peptide or Mito-TEMPO, along with the different treatments, reduces, or even abolishes, the up-regulation of the cytokine release. No changes in the levels of cytokines were noted in the supernatant medium for the TLR4-KO-astrocytes for any of the treatments and inhibitors used, except for the Mito-TEMPO treatment at the IL-18 released levels. Bars represent the (mean ± SEM) expressed as a percentage (%) of 6–10 individual experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (two-way ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni’s correction).