Figure 1.

The depressive-like behaviors and the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes induced by SD. (A–D) The GFAP-GFP transgenic mice were treated with sham (Control) or exposed to SD for 3 weeks, in the final week the mice were injected with or without MCC950 (a NLRP3 inhibitor), fluoxetine, 5-HT_2B receptors antagonist (SB204741; SB) or SB plus fluoxetine. The percentage of sucrose preference was measured (the left panels of A and B), the time of immobility were recorded in force-swimming test (the middle panels of A and B) and tail suspension test (the right panels of A and B), the values are expressed as mean ± SEM, n = 12. ^*p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with any other group (A); ^**p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with control and SD groups (A); ^*p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with any other group (B); ^**p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with PBS and SD groups treated with sham (Control) or SD (B); ^#p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with any other group except for each other (B). The astrocytes sorted from GFAP-GFP mice were collected, representative blots for the expression of NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1, procaspase-1 was shown in C1. Average protein levels were quantified as the ratio between the protein and β-actin, respectively, n = 6 (D). ^*p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with any other group (D); ^#p < 0.05, statistically significant difference compared with any other group except for each other (D).