Fig. 3

Detection of NLRP3 inflammasome activation related molecules in serum and hippocampi. Compared to Control, mice in CUMS and CUMS + Veh groups had higher concentrations of corticosterone and IL-1β (^## p < 0.01 vs. Control), while such increases were nearly normalized in both CUMS + Glb and CUMS + Flx (^** p < 0.01, ^*** p < 0.001 vs. CUMS + Veh) (a, b). In addition, mice from CUMS and CUMS + Veh groups also got higher protein levels of hippocampal NLRP3, caspase-1 p10 and IL-1β than that of Control (^# p < 0.05, ^## p < 0.01 vs. Control). As comparing with CUMS + Veh, caspase-1 p10 and IL-1β levels of CUMS + Glb and CUMS + Flx mice were significantly lower. Moreover, CUMS + Glb also contained less NLRP3 protein (^* p < 0.05, ^** p < 0.01 vs. CUMS + Veh) (c–f). Besides, TXNIP strikingly increased in CUMS and CUMS + Veh groups (^### p < 0.001 vs. Control), but when comparing with CUMS + Veh, it decreased sharply in both CUMS + Glb and CUMS + Flx groups (^** p < 0.01, ^**** p < 0.0001 vs. CUMS + Veh) (g, h). Data presented as mean ± SEM, n = 6 for a, b, n = 4 for c–h