Figure 4. EC-expressed caspase-11 Is required for ALI induced by endotoxemia.

(A) Lung microvessel filtration coefficient was assessed in Casp11^fl/fl and Casp11^EC–/– mice following exposure to systemic LPS (40 mg/kg i.p.) for 6 hours. (B) Representative H&E staining (n = 6 mice per group) of lung sections from Casp11^fl/fl and Cas11^EC–/– mice shows marked reduction in inflammation and lung injury in the latter group at 6 hours following LPS (40 mg/kg i.p.). Scale bars: 100 μm. (C) A similar protective effect was also observed when assessing the lung wet/dry ratio. (D) Quantitative analysis for neutrophil infiltration in the lungs by assessing lung tissue MPO activity. (E) Circulating levels of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β, which is released during pyroptosis. Scatter plots show mean ± SEM. Dots represent data from individual mice. ***P < 0.001. (F) Kaplan-Meier survival plots of mice challenged with a lethal LPS dose (40 mg/kg i.p.) show that EC-specific deletion of caspase-11 improves survival from 0% to 50%–60%. Statistics obtained from 2-tailed Student’s t test.