Fig. 5.

The P2X7R pathway is required for T. gondii-induced NLRP3 activation. P2X7R or control siRNA was transfected into FHs 74 Int cells that were then infected with the T. gondii GFP-RH strain at an MOI of 10 for 8 h. a Cell extracts were subjected to Western blotting to detect P2X7R, NLRP3, cleaved Casp-1 and ASC expression levels. b IL-1β levels in the cell culture supernatants were measured by ELISA. *P < 0.05 compared with control siRNA-transfected T. gondii-infected cells. c Cells were fixed and stained with Texas Red-X phalloidin to label F-actin (red), and the nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Intracellular parasites were revealed by fluorescence microscopy. All data shown are representative of three independent experiments. Scale-bars: 20 μm