Quercetin Protects Ethanol-Induced Hepatocyte Pyroptosis via Scavenging Mitochondrial ROS and Promoting PGC-1α-Regulated Mitochondrial Homeostasis in L02 Cells

Figure 4

Quercetin alleviated ethanol-induced pyroptosis via the nuclear transfer of PGC1α. (a–e) Western blot analysis of NLRP3, caspase1, cleaved-caspase1, GSDMD-N, ASC, IL-18, and IL-1β protein abundance. (f) The mRNA expression of IL-1β, IL-18, caspase1, and GSDMD genes. (g) Representative immunofluorescent images co-stained with PGC-1α (red), DAPI (blue) and both channels merged (400x magnification). The graphs (down panel) show the fluorescence intensity profiles in two fluorescence channels along the arrow and the white arrows represent nucleus PGC-1α; the yellow arrowheads show cytoplasm PGC-1α, whereas a clear nuclear translocation (white arrow) and shrinkage of PGC-1α (red) is seen in quercetin treatment and inhibited by ethanol. Data are expressed as (). Different subscript letters indicate significant differences among the groups ().

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