Abstract:
This study was conducted to investigate the inhibitory effect and the molecular mechanism of deoxyschizandrin on the activity of NLRP3 (NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3) inflammasome. Bone marrow-derived macrophages were used to study the effects of deoxyschizandrin on inflammasome activation using inflammasome inducers (ATP and nigericin). Cytotoxic effect was evaluated with CCK-8. The expression of IL-1
β, caspase-1 in the supernatant and the expression of pro-caspase-1, pro-IL-1
β, ASC, NLRP3 in cell was detected by Western blot for the inhibitory effect of deoxyschizandrin (25, 50, 100 and 200 μmol·L
-1) on the activity of NLRP3 inflammasome. Immunofluorescence was applied to investigate NF-
κB (p65) transportation to the nucleus. The results of CCK-8 showed that the optimum concentration of deoxyschizandrin was 6.25-400 μmol·L
-1. Deoxyschizandrin (25, 50, 100, and 200 μmol·L
-1) could inhibit the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome caused by nigericin and ATP, and inhibit the secretion of IL-1
β, which was associated with inhibiting the cleavage of pro-caspase-1. The results of immunofluorescence and Western blot also suggest that the inhibitory activity of deoxyschizandrin on NLRP3 inflammasome was not dependent on NF-
κB pathway and protein expression of NLRP3, ASC, pro-caspase-1 and pro-IL-1
β mediated by NF-
κB. Our results confirmed that deoxyschizandrin could suppress the cleavage of pro-caspase-1 and inhibit the activity of NLRP3 inflammasome at 25-200 μmol·L
-1 to reduce the inflammation response.