Silencing of TLR4 Inhibits Atrial Fibrosis and Susceptibility to Atrial Fibrillation via Downregulation of NLRP3-TGF-β in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Figure 5

Silencing of TLR4 reduced expression of NLRP3 and TGF-β proteins in vivo. Protein expression of TLR4, NLRP3, pro-caspase-1, caspase-1-p20, TGF-β, IL-1β, and IL-18 detected by western blots in left atrial tissue. (a) Representative western blots show expression of TLR4, NLRP3, pro-caspase-1, caspase-1-p20, TGF-β, IL-1β, and IL-18. (b–h) Relative protein expression of TLR4, NLRP3, pro-caspase-1, caspase-1-p20, TGF-β, IL-1β, and IL-18 normalized to GAPDH in left atrial tissue. All the aforementioned data are represented as (). Statistical analyses: values were evaluated by ANOVA, followed by a post hoc Tukey’s test. , , and versus the control; ^#, ^##, and ^### versus the SHR group; ^&, ^&&, and ^&&& versus the SHR+vehicle group; significantly different as indicated.

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