FIG 1.

Representative Western blotting images show synergistic effects of Chlamydia pneumoniae with CNTs on IL-1β secretion from macrophages. (A) Mature IL-1β secretion from macrophages is significantly increased by costimulation of C. pneumoniae with CNTs at 24 h after incubation compared with CNTs or C. pneumoniae alone. (B) A time course experiment shows the synergistic increase of IL-1β secretion was time dependent. (C) A dose-response experiment revealed that the synergistic increase of IL-1β secretion also occurred in a dose-dependent manner, dependent upon the CNT concentration. The results are representative of three independent experiments. Tubulin was used as an internal control. sup, desalinized culture supernatants of THP-1 cells; cell, the remaining cells; Cpn, C. pneumoniae; CNT, carbon nanotube; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; IL-1β, interleukin-1β.