Fig. 1.

ox-LDL induced THP-1 macrophages to pyroptosis in a concentration-dependent manner. Cells were pretreated with ox-LDL (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 μg/mL) for 48 h. (a) Western blotting was performed to determine the level of pro-caspase-1 (p-casp1) and GSDMD. (b, c) Relative protein and mRNA expressions of two molecules were expressed as a percentage of β-actin. (d) Cell viability was measured using a CCK-8 detection kit. (e) Effects of different concentrations of ox-LDL induced LDH release were measured by a CytoTox 96 kit. (f, g) ELISA was used to determine the secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 in the supernatant. Values are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n = 3) of independent experiments at least 3 repeated measurements. ^*p < 0.05 and ^**p < 0.01 different from the control group