Colchicine Alleviates Cholesterol Crystal-Induced Endothelial Cell Pyroptosis through Activating AMPK/SIRT1 Pathway

Figure 7

Silencing of AMPK-SIRT1 signaling eliminates the protective effect of colchicine on endothelial cells. HUVECs were transfected with siRNA targeting AMPα1 (si-AMPKα1) and SIRT1 (si-SIRT1) or a control siRNA (si-NC) or were not transfected (-). Cells were then added to cholesterol crystal (0.5 mg/ml) in the presence of colchicine (10 nM) for 24 hrs. (a) Western blotting was dedicated to examine the protein expression levels of SIRT1, p-AMPKα, AMPKα, HO-1, SOD-2, SOD-1, NLRP3, ASC-1, procaspase-1, and caspase-1 in endothelial cells. (b–i) Quantitative analysis of pyroptosis-associated protein and AMPK/SIRT1 pathway-associated protein expression. Values were expressed as the of three independent experiments. , , , and vs. the CC+COL+si-NC group.

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