Figure 4.

ROS mediates PCB118-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation in mouse islet β-TC-6 cells. The production of ROS in the PCB118-treated cells was significantly increased (a). Cells were pretreated with 10 μmol/L ROS inhibitor NAC and then exposed to 20 nmol/L PCB118 for 48 hours. NAC significantly inhibited intracellular ROS production (b) and the production of IL-6, IL-18, and CCL-2 (c). The expression of NLRP3, caspase-1, and IL-1β also decreased significantly, while the expression of procaspase-1 and pro-IL-1β recovered to a certain degree (d–i). ^∗p < 0.05.