The Antimalarial Chloroquine Suppresses LPS-Induced NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and Confers Protection against Murine Endotoxic Shock

Figure 5

CQ restrains ASC speck formation and potassium efflux. (a) Representative immunofluorescence images of ASC speck formation in LPS-primed BMDMs stimulated with ATP in the presence or absence of CQ (20 μM) were acquired by confocal microscopy. (b) A percentage of cells containing specks were quantified in at least five distinct fields. (c, d) LPS-primed BMDMs were treated for 1 h with 2 mM ATP in a medium containing the specified [K⁺], and the secreted IL-1β was measured. (e) CQ pretreatment BMDMs were treated with LPS plus ATP, and the intracellular content of K⁺ was detected. Data are shown as means ± SEM; versus CQ pretreatment (4 μM) group; , versus LPS plus ATP group.

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