Figure 1.

Expression profile of the P2X₇R/NLRP3 inflammasome components after myocardial infarction (MI). (A) Immunohistochemical staining of P2X₇R 3 days post‐MI in sham‐operated tissue (SH), the MI‐infarcted border (IB), the MI‐infarcted zone (IZ) and the remote zone (RZ). An increased expression of P2X₇R was observed in the inflammatory cells and myocytes of infarcted tissue (IZ) and in the infarcted border (IB) at d3 post‐MI. (B) Double‐immunostaining for CD68 (green) and P2X₇R (red) in the vehicle‐MI group showed a limited distribution of P2X₇R on macrophages in the infarcted border. (C) Western blot showing the expression profiles of NLRP3 (120 kD), mature IL‐1β (17 kD) and P2X₇R (80 kD) in the left ventricle 0 hr, 12 hrs, 1, 3, 5 and 7 days post‐MI. P2X₇R, NLRP3 and mature IL‐1β were quantified relative to the GAPDH (37 kD) levels (D, E and F) (n = 5 per group and per time‐point). Bar = 30 μm. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 versus 0 hr.