Fig. 2

Nlrp3 knockout attenuated transcriptional changes in neuroinflammation and postsynaptic proteins in contextual fear memory. a, b Representative images of immunoblotting and quantitative analysis of cleaved caspase-1, NLRP3, and β-actin in the hippocampus collected from WT and Nlrp3^−/− mice 3 h post the electric foot shocks. n = 6 in each group. c ELISA of IL-1β level in hippocampus 3 h post the electric foot shocks. WT/Ctrl, n = 3; Nlrp3^−/−/Ctrl, n = 3; WT/FS, n = 5; Nlrp3^−/−/FS, n = 5. d, e qPCR analysis of IL-1β and TNF-α mRNA levels in isolated microglia collected from WT and Nlrp3^−/− mice 3 h post the electric foot shocks. WT/Ctrl, n = 3; Nlrp3^−/−/Ctrl, n = 3; WT/FS, n = 5; Nlrp3^−/−/FS, n = 5. f, g Immunohistochemistry and statistical analysis of Iba1⁺ cells in hippocampus. h Heatmap of differential expression genes related to neuronal functions in hippocampus collected from WT and Nlrp3^−/− mice 72 h post electric foot shocks. i-l qPCR analysis of Shank1, Shank2, Shank3, and PSD95 (Dlg4) mRNA level in WT and Nlrp3^−/− mice 72 h after the electric foot shocks. WT/Ctrl, n = 6; Nlrp3^−/−/Ctrl, n = 6; WT/FS, n = 10; Nlrp3^−/−/FS, n = 10. m Immunoblotting of PSD95, Shank2, and Shank3 protein levels in WT and Nlrp3^−/− mice 72 h after the electric foot shocks. n, o GSEA of toll-like receptor signaling and RIG-I-like receptor signaling. Nlrp3^−/− vs WT. p Heatmap of differential expression genes related to inflammation at 72 h after the electric foot shocks. Data shown are mean ± SEM. Data were analyzed by t test. NS, no significance, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01