Fig. 6

Baicalein anti-inflammatory/oxidative abilities are mainly attributed to the promotion of Nrf2 signaling in MDSCs. MDSCs were treated with or without BT (0.3 μM) for 1 h, a specific inhibitor of Nrf2, and then with or without baicalein (0.04 μM) for 1 h prior to incubation with LPS (500 ng/ml) for another 5 h, followed by incubation with or without ATP (5 mM) for 30 min. a, b ROS and MitoSOX production in MDSCs was analyzed by flow cytometry.c, d IL-1β and IL-18 secretion was detected by ELISA. e Relative expression of Arg-1, P47 ^phox, GP91 ^phox, iNOS, NQO-1, and HO-1 mRNA in MDSCs were measured by QPCR. f, g Nuclear levels of Nrf2 and the protein expression of HO-1 were determined by western blot. h Western blotting was used to assess the expression levels of NLRP3, Pro-casp-1, and Pro-IL-1β proteins in the cell lysates, and Casp-1-p20 and mIL-1β in culture supernatants, respectively; GAPDH was used as a loading control for cell lysates. i P-NF-κB and NF-κB were determined by western blot. BA represents baicalein. Data represent the mean scores ± SEM of triplicate experiments. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001