Fig. 4

The NLRP3 inhibitor MCC950 inhibits silica- and FCCP-induced DNA damage. a, b Comet assay analysis of DNA damage in 16HBE cells pretreated with MCC950 (100 nM) for 1 h and thereafter with silica (5 μg/cm²) (a) or FCCP (500 nM) (b) for times indicated. c Representative confocal images showing γH2AX (green) staining in 16HBE cells pretreated (1 h) with MCC950 (100 nM) and thereafter treated with FCCP (500 nM) as indicated. Cell nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Bars show fluorescence intensity of γH2AX from 100 cells. Boxplots in a and b show median with 95% confidence interval. All experiments were performed at least in triplicate. ***p < 0.001 compared to untreated cells, or #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ###p < 0.001 compared to cells not exposed to inhibitor, as determined by ANOVA