Salidroside (SAL) improves insulin sensitivity and suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation in hepatocytes. After cultured overnight in the serum-free medium which contains normal glucose (NG, 5.5 mM), primary mouse hepatocytes were incubated in the serum-free medium which contains 30 mM glucose and 100 nM insulin (HG) and treated with 10 μM SAL for the indicated periods of time (0–72 h), or treated with SAL (0.1, 1, and 10 μM) for 72 h. For assessment of insulin sensitivity in vitro, hepatocytes were treated as indicated, the medium was removed, and cells were incubated in fresh serum-free DMEM containing insulin (10 nM) for 20 min before protein samples were extracted. Protein sample were extracted from hepatocytes or supernatant (SN). The phosphorylation of Akt and GSK3β (a, d) and the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome (c, f) were analyzed by immunoblot. The supernatant IL-1β concentration (b, e) was measured by ELISA method. †
P < 0.05, ††
P < 0.01 versus NG; ∗
P < 0.05, ∗∗
P < 0.01 versus HG. Values are means ± s.e.m. ((a), (c), (d), and (f): n = 4; (b) and (e): n = 3).