Association between NLRP3 inflammasome and periprocedural myocardial injury following elective PCI

Figures

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  Fig. 1. RNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis of expression data of PBMCs from Non-PMI and PMI patients. (A) Volcano map of differentially expressed genes. NLRP3 inflammasome-related genes are labeled with texts. (B) Among GO enrichment analysis, the most significant 20 biological process terms are displayed, inflammation-related terms are highlighted in red. (C) The most significant 15 KEGG pathways are displayed, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway was significantly enriched. (D) Fifteen important genes involved in the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway are visualized in the heatmap. FDR, false discovery rate; PMI, periprocedural myocardial injury.

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  Fig. 2. NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in PBMCs from PMI patients. (A) Distribution of cTnT levels in 42 Non-PMI and 23 PMI patients. (B) Representative flow cytometer scatter diagrams of caspase-1 activity. (C) The activity of caspase-1 are compared among the groups. (D, E) Plasma levels of IL-1β and IL-18 are detected by ELISA and compared among the groups. Data are presented as mean ± SD or median with IQR. **P < 0.01; ns, not significant; SSC-A, side scatter area; PMI, periprocedural myocardial injury; cTnT, cardiac troponin T.

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  Fig. 3. NLRP3 inflammasome activity is correlated with PMI degree. (A, B) Correlations between caspase-1 activity and plasma IL-1β, IL-18 levels, respectively. (C–E) Correlations between cTnT level and caspase-1 activity, IL-1β, IL-18 levels, respectively. cTnT, cardiac troponin T.

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  Fig. 4. CME induces myocardial injury. (A) Representative images of HE staining of cardiac tissues 24 h after CME or sham surgery. (B) Representative images of Heidenhain's iron hematoxylin staining for each group to visualize microinfarct areas, the microinfarct areas are stained into dark gray. (C, D) Plasma LDH and cTnI levels are measured and compared in each group. n = 10 per group. Scale bars = 50 μm. Black arrows indicate the microspheres. Data are presented as mean ± SD. **P < 0.01. HE, hematoxylin and eosin; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; cTnI, cardiac troponin I; CME, coronary microembolization.

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  Fig. 5. NLRP3 inflammasome is activated in CME mice. (A) Fold change comparison of caspase-1 activity in PBMCs from sham and CME mice. (B, C) Plasma levels of IL-1β and IL-18 are detected by ELISA and compared between sham and CME mice. n = 10 per group. Data are presented as mean ± SD. **P < 0.01. CME, coronary microembolization.