Fig. 10
Transplantation of MSCs downregulated the expression of genes in the Nlrp3 inflammasome pathway. (A) GSEA enrichment analysis of the bulk RNA-seq data identified enriched gene sets associated with the inflammasomes and Nlrp3 inflammasome pathway. (B) qRT-PCR assay of the indicated genes involved in the Nlrp3 inflammasome pathway in control and EAU retinas at 14 d.p.i. Data are presented as mean ± SD (n = 3–9 retinas per group). *p < 0.0001. (C) At 21 d.p.i., Western blotting was performed for Nlrp3 and IL-1β p17 expressed in retinas of the PBS, MSCtdTomato and MSCCCR5 groups. β-tubulin served as the internal protein control. (D, E) Quantification of relative protein expression levels of Nlrp3 and IL-1β p17 in retinas of the PBS, MSCtdTomato and MSCCCR5 groups. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 7–10 retinas per group). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. (F) Western blotting analysis was performed for Nlrp3 and IL-1β p17 expressed in LPS-treated BV2 microglia cultured in the absence (PBS) or presence of MSCtdTomato or MSCCCR5 cells. (G, H) Quantification of relative expression levels of Nlrp3 and IL-1β p17 in LPS-treated microglia cultured in the absence (PBS) or presence of MSCtdTomato or MSCCCR5 cells. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 4–10 individual samples per group). *p < 0.05, ns, no significance