Fig. 7.

Melatonin disrupts the IL-1β-NLRP3 inflammasome positive feedback loop by downregulating NF-κB signaling and mtROS production. a–c Western blot and RT-qPCR analysis of NLRP3 in NP cells cultured with IL-1β, si-P65, si-P65, and melatonin plus IL-1β. d IF analysis of NLRP3 in NP cells exposed to si-P65 and si-P65 plus IL-1β (original magnification ×1 000; scale bar = 10 µm). e–g Western blot and RT-qPCR analysis of SOD2 in NP cells treated with IL-1β, melatonin, and melatonin plus IL-1β. h, i MitoSOX red staining and quantitative analysis of NP cells cultured with melatonin and melatonin plus IL-1β (original magnification ×1 000; scale bar = 10 µm). CTR, Control; Met, melatonin; Met + IL-1β, melatonin plus IL-1β. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ^#P < 0.05; ^##P < 0.01. The data are shown as the means ± SD