FIGURE 3.

EPO suppressed the NLRP3 inflammasome in LPS-induced ALI. EPO (5 U/g) was injected into the peritoneal cavity of mice after LPS (15 mg/kg) stimulation. The mice were sacrificed 8 h later, and the lung tissues were obtained to measure the mRNA expression levels of caspase-1, ASC, and NLRP3 (A–C) by QPCR. In addition, the protein expression levels of pro-caspase-1, pro-IL-1β, ASC, NLRP3, and cleaved caspase-1 (D–I) were detected by Western blotting. The data are presented as the mean ± SD. The differences among groups were assessed by one-way ANOVA and the post hoc test (Turkey method) was applied to investigate the differences one by one. n = 8 per group.