Fig. 5

Representative (A) immunofluorescence images showing NLRP3 (red) and ASC2 (green) co-localization events and (B) immunohistochemistry images of IL-1β immunoreactivity in the liver sections from CHOW, MC, MC + AC and AC only groups. For immunofluorescence images, the liver sections were counterstained with DAPI (blue); all the images were captured in 40× magnification, and immunoreactivity was indicated by white arrows. For immunohistochemistry, all the images were captured in 20× magnification, and immunoreactivity was indicated by red arrows. Morphometric analysis (calculated as %ROI) of (C) NLRP3 and ASC2 co-localization events, and (E) IL-1β immunoreactivity where Y-axis represents % positive immunoreactive area (% ROI) (n = 3; mean value taken from three separate microscopic fields). Data were represented as mean ± SEM and statistical significance was tested using unpaired t-test between the two groups (ns – non significant, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001), followed by Bonferroni–Dunn post hoc corrections. Correlation plot between serum acetate concentration and liver (D) NLRP3-ASC2 co-localization events