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. 2021 Feb 1;2021:4657014. doi: 10.1155/2021/4657014

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Pyroptosis of NPCs in P. acnes-inoculated IVDs of rats. (a) Inoculation of P. acnes into IVDs of rats resulted in an increase in cleaved IL-18, cleaved IL-1β, and cleaved caspase-1. (b) Inhibition of pyroptosis with Ac-YVAD-cmk or neutralization of pyroptotic products IL-1β or IL-18 ameliorated the degeneration of P. acnes-inoculated IVDs. (c) P. acnes inoculation induced remarkable degeneration of IVDs, indicated by the decrease in the area and signal darkening on MRI examination, while the damage caused by P. acnes-induced pyroptosis was reversed by the inhibition of caspase-1 with Ac-YVAD-cmk or neutralization of IL-1β or IL-18. (d) Histological analysis showed that inoculation of P. acnes into IVDs caused degeneration, which was apparent through the disappearance of the nucleus pulposus, disorganization of the annulus fibrosus, and infiltration of immune cells. In contrast, the inhibition of caspase-1 with Ac-YVAD-cmk or neutralization of IL-1β or IL-18 markedly ameliorated the degeneration of IVDs. One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni tests were used for statistical analysis. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001 when comparisons were made between groups. All of the values were expressed as mean ± SD.