Fig. 4

Lcn2 deficiency alleviates pyroptosis in astrocytes induced by ischemia/reperfusion injury. a, d Double-IF staining for GFAP (green) and GSDMD (red) in vivo and in vitro. Scale bar = 20 μm. b, c, e, f WB analysis of GSDMD protein expression in the penumbra tissue and cultured astrocytes. Data are mean ± SD; n = 5 per group; ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05 for MCAO-operated group vs. corresponding sham-operated group or OGD/R-cells vs. corresponding control cells; ^###P < 0.001. g Representative TEM images of astrocytes in peri-infarct brain tissue. Red arrows indicate pyroptosis pores on the cell membrane. Scale bar = 5 μm and 1 μm for magnified images. h, i IL-1β and IL-18 secretion into supernatants measured by ELISA. Data are mean ± SD; n = 3 per group; ***P < 0.001 for OGD/R-cells vs. corresponding control cells; ^###P < 0.001, ^##P < 0.01