Figure 5

Asbestos-induced inflammasome priming and activation is attenuated by NAC. (A) LP9 cells pretreated with 2 mM NAC were exposed to 5 ug/cm² asbestos for 48 h and changes in NLRP3 mRNA levels were assessed by qRT-PCR. (B) Inflammasome activation was assessed by Western blot analysis of the media supernatants from cells exposed to asbestos with and without pretreatment with NAC. Immobilized proteins on the nitrocellulose membrane were probed for the presence of active caspase-1 (p20 fragment) (*p < 0.05 compared to null control; † compared to Croc 75 alone; n = 2 per group).