Figure 4.

Fucoidan reduces lipid accumulation and inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation in oxLDL-treated macrophages. (a) MTT was used to measure the cell viability in foam cells incubated with different doses of fucoidan for 36 h. (b) Intracellular lipid accumulation was assessed by Oil Red O staining. Scale bars = 25 μm. (c, d) Representative western blot analysis of the protein expression levels of NLRP3, ASC, pro-caspase-1, caspase-1, pro-IL-1β, and IL-1β. All data are representative of three independent experiments. (e) The levels of IL-1β in the culture medium were measured by ELISA. Data are shown as the mean ± SE. ^∗p < 0.05 vs. the untreated group; ^#p < 0.05 vs. the oxLDL-treated group.