Fig. 2
From: Coarse particulate matter (PM10) induce an inflammatory response through the NLRP3 activation
PM10 alters inflammasome component expression and induces ASC complexes assembly. The gene expression of inflammasome components in PBMCs exposed to PM10 was quantified by qPCR. The formation of ASC complexes in THP-1 cells expressing ASC-GFP and exposed to increasing doses of PM10 (50–200 µg/mL) was evaluated by confocal microscopy at different times (1–5 h). (A) Expression of NLRP3 and ASC (fold change); (B) Representative image of ASC specks by confocal microscopy. (C) the number of ASC specks was calculated as the average of 6 fields with the 40X objective, and LPS was used as the priming signal. The data are presented as median ± IQR (n = 3). Statistical comparison was made using Kruskal-Wallis tests with a confidence level of 95%, and Dunn’s HDS post hoc (or multiple benchmark) tests were performed. Significant differences are represented at the top of the bars (*p < 0.05; p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001)