Fig. 2
mRNA expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (a), components of NLRP3 inflammasome (b), and TLRs (c) in MH-S cells exposed to PM2.5 (dose- and time-response studies). The cells were treated with 25 or 50 μg/mL of PM2.5 for 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h. The cells treated with physiological saline were used as control. The mRNA expression of the gene was determined by RT-qPCR and normalized to the β-actin expression in the same sample. Data are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 3). * p < 0.05 vs. control