Figure 5.

Triptolide downregulates NLRP3 inflammasome expression in cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). (A) Cells were treated as presented in Figure 2. Western blot was performed to detect the expression of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like proteins containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) and pro-caspase-1 in total cell lysate, and the release of caspase-1 and IL-1β in the supernatant. (B) CFs isolated from wildtype C57 mice or Nlrp3-knockout C57 mice (Nlrp3^−/−) were treated with AngII (1 μM) and/or triptolide (TP; 10 μg/mL) for 24 h. Cell lysate was used to detect the expression of NLRP3, Col-I, and p-Smad2/3 by Western blot. Histograms represent the protein ratio normalized to GAPDH (n = 3). * p < 0.01 vs. medium; # p < 0.01 vs. AngII. n.d., not detected.