Figure 7.

Ethanol lowered the sodium orthovanadate-induced caspase-1 activation and also diminished the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. The co-stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1 µg/mL) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP, 100 µM) significantly induced the caspase-1 activation in comparison to the unstimulated control group and single stimulation group with LPS or ATP only. Further treatment with sodium orthovanadate (Na₃VO₄, 1000 µM) enhanced the caspase-1 activation additionally. In contrast, exposure to ethanol (EtOH) at the first time point (E1) significantly decreased the caspase-1 activity. Exposure to sodium orthovanadate in the E1-treated cells significantly increased the caspase-1 activity compared to E1 in the LPS and ATP-stimulated cells. (A). LPS, ATP and co-stimulation with LPS and ATP significantly induced ROS production. The administration of EtOH at each time point significantly reduced the generation of ROS compared to the stimulated samples (B). The mean and standard error of the mean are depicted. p < 0.05: *versus indicated.