Fig. 3

AS-IV reduced pyroptosis and fibrosis development in hypoxia-treated PASMCs. PASMCs were divided into 3 groups: Nor, Hyp and AS, cultured with normoxia or hypoxia, and treated with or without AS-IV. A-D, Cropped blots of GSDMD-N, NLRP3, cleaved Caspase-1, Fibronectin and Collagen1 and quantification of grayscale value (the samples derived from the same experiment and that gels/blots were processed in parallel). E, IL-1β and IL-18 levels in cell supernatant were measured by ELISA. F, Cell death was detected by PI/Hoechst double fluorescent staining. Scale bar = 50 μm. G, LDH activity was detected by a LDH release agent. H-I, Proteins related to extracellular matrix metabolism, including MMP2/9 and TIMP4 were detected by ELISA method. ^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01, ^***P<0.001, comparison with Nor group. ^#P<0.05, ^##P<0.01, ^###P<0.001, comparison with Hyp group