Fig. 1.

NLRP3 and ASC contribute to bacterial clearance of Burkholderia pseudomallei.

Wild-type (WT) (black circles), Nlrp3^−/− (gray circles), and Asc^−/− (white circles) mice (n = 8/group) were intranasally infected with B pseudomallei and sacrificed 24 or 72 h postinfection. At these time points bacterial loads were determined in lung homogenate (A), blood (B), and liver (C). Total cell influx was measured in BALF (D). Data are presented as means ± SEM. ^∗P <0.05; ^∗∗P <0.01, ^∗∗∗P <0.001 compared with WT mice, ^#P <0.05 compared to Nlrp3^−/− mice (n = 6–8 mice/group) (Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by separate Mann–Whitney U tests). BC+ denotes blood culture positivity; SEM, standard error of the mean.