Fig. 3

Lack of STAT6 expression in KO mice induced more expression of NLRP3 and activation of p38 MAPK. A Immunostaining for NLRP3 expression in the lung tissues of treated mice with ALI. Representative photograph with 100 × magnification. Brown: positively stained cells. B Quantitative analysis for NLRP3 expression in the lung tissues of mice after immunostaining by ImageJ software. Data was presented as mean ratio of NLRP3 staining density to WT/PBS control ± standard error. n = 3–7, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus PBS group. # p < 0.05 versus WT/LPS group. One-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons. C Western blot analysis for the expression of NLRP3, ASC, p-p38 MAPK, total p38 MAPK, p62 and LC3 in the lung tissues of mice with ALI. GAPDH and β-Tubulin are internal loading controls. Representative blots. D Quantitative analysis for the expression of NLRP3, ASC, p-p38 MAPK, ratio of p-p38 MAPK/total p38 MAPK, p62 and LC3 in Western blots by ImageJ software. Data was presented as ratio of densitometric density to GAPDH or β-Tubulin. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 versus WT group. Student t test