Figure 6

Involvement of uptake and lysosomes in inflammasome activation by non-crystalline and crystalline silica in RAW264.7 macrophages. The cells were primed for 3 h by LPS (25 ng/ml), and then pre-treated for 30 min with the indicated concentrations of cytochalasin D, bafilomycin or Ca074Me before exposure to different silica particles (200 μg/ml) for 6 h. A) MinUsil 5 (MinU); B) Si50 C) Fumed silica particles D) Fused silica particles. The IL-1β levels were determined by ELISA. Data represent the mean ± SD of 6 experiments and are presented as fold change. * = p < 0.05; significant different from particle-stimulated cells without inhibitors (light grey bars); using Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s Multiple Comparison test as a post-test.