Figure 5.

TUDCA inhibited CHOP-induced apoptosis and activation of the inflammasome in response to LPS and tunicamycin co-treatment in primary mouse hepatocytes. (a and b) Hepatocytes were pretreated for 48 h with 500 μg/ml TUDCA followed by culture for 24 h in normal medium (c) or 100 ng/ml LPS, 1 μg/ml TUNI or both (LPS+TUNI). After treatment, the percentage of viable cells quantified by MTT assay (a) (relative to control) and TUNEL-positive hepatocytes (b) was quantified (n=4–6). (c and d) Immunoblot analysis of CHOP, active caspase-11, caspase-1, pro-IL-1β and IL-1β protein levels assessed from hepatocytes pretreated either with TUDCA (c) or Chop siRNA (d) before stimulation (n=3). Data are expressed as mean±standard error of the mean. Statistical significance from controls is denoted by *^,#P≤0.05, **P≤0.01