Figure 2.

Paracrine effect by which rBMMSCs inhibit hepatocyte pyroptosis. PKH67 dye was transferred to hepatocytes by rBMMSCs via the paracrine pathway ((A–D), Scale bar = 50 μm). Pyroptosis-related proteins in the CCl₄ + CCS group were significantly decreased compared to those in the CCl₄ group ((E–I), ** p < 0.01). Pyroptosis-related proteins in the CCl₄ + CCS+GW4869 group were significantly increased comparing with those in the CCl₄ + CCS group ((E–I), # p < 0.05). The expression levels of pyroptosis-related proteins in the CCl₄ + DMSO and CCl₄ + GW4869 groups was not significantly different compared to that in the CCl₄ group (E–I). Cell viability in the CCl₄ + CCS group was significantly higher than that in the other groups ((J), ## p < 0.01). The expression of IL-1β in the CCl₄ + CCS group was dramatically lower than those in the CCl₄ group ((J), *** p < 0.001). Similar results had been showed in (K), the expression of IL-18 in the CCl₄ + CCS group were significantly decreased compared to those in the CCl₄ group (**** p < 0.0001). The data are displayed as the means ± SD; n = 5 for each group.