Bovine serum albumin induced the inflammasome activation in NRK-52E cells in vitro.

<p>A,C and E: Western blot analysis shows the caspase-1 activation and maturation of IL-1β and IL-18 protein in NRK-52E cells after treatment without or with 5 mg/ml BSA for various time periods in serum-free medium. The whole cell lysate was immunoblotted with caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 antibody, respectively. The same blot was reprobed with α-tubulin to confirm equal loading of each lane. B, D and F: Western blot analysis shows the caspase-1 activation and maturation of IL-1β and IL-18 protein in NRK-52E cells without or with different amounts of BSA for 12 h in serum-free medium. The whole cell lysate was also immunoblotted with caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 antibody, respectively. G through I: The inflammasome markers were detected by an indirect immunostaining in NRK-52E cells. NRK-52E cells were treated without (left column) or with 5 mg/ml BSA (right column) for 24 hours in serum-free medium. G: Immunostaining of caspase-1; H: Immunostaining of IL-1β; I: Immunostaining of IL-18.