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. 2018 Feb 7;9(2):171. doi: 10.1038/s41419-017-0257-3

Fig. 7. Pretreatment with ROS scavenger mitigated nicotine-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation and endothelial cells pyroptosis.

Fig. 7

a Nicotine increased intracellular ROS level of HAECs, and this increase was inhibited by N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC, 5 mM). b Nicotine-induced the upregulation of NLRP3, ASC, Caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 mRNA levels were decreased by NAC (n = 3–5). c–d NAC pretreatment suppressed the upregulation of Caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 protein levels in the presence of nicotine. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. e TUNEL (red) and Caspase-1 (green) double-positive cells were decreased when pretreatment with NAC. Scale bar indicates 100 μm. Magnification: ×200. f Pyroptotic cell death was determined by LDH release, and the relative LDH activity was decreased when pretreated with NAC (n = 5). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01