Fig. 5: IRAK-M downregulates the expression and activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes and GSDMD.

A Average clinical scores of AAV^IRAK-M and AAV^CTL mice administered MOG_35-55 (n = 12 per group). B The variation in the body weight of AAV^IRAK-M and AAV^CTL EAE groups (n = 12 per group). C Representative images of H&E staining. Upper panels on the left show a 4 × 10 magnification of the whole spinal cord, scale bar: 500 µm; while the lower show a 10 × 10 magnification of the anterior median region, scale bar: 200 µm. The right panel shows the evaluation of infiltrating degree (n = 12 per group). D Representative images of LFB staining. The uncolored area in the anterior white matter indicates the area of axonal injury (upper panels on the left show a 4 × 10 magnification of the whole spinal cord, scale bar: 500 µm; lower show a 10 × 10 magnification of the anterior median region, scale bar: 200 µm). The right panel shows the evaluation of demyelination degree (n = 12 per group). E Immunohistochemistry analysis showing infiltrating Iba-1⁺ cells in the lumbosacral spinal cord of AAV^IRAK-M and AAV^CTL EAE mice. Scale bar: 50 μm. F Relative fold expression of IRAK-M mRNA in the spinal cord of AAV^IRAK-M and AAV^CTL mice at peak disease (the right panel) (n = 6, respectively). Results were normalized to GAPDH. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 compared to the WT EAE group. ^##P < 0.01, ^###P < 0.001 compared to the AAV^CTL EAE group. All of the results were from three representative experiments. Data were analyzed by an unpaired t-test or the Mann–Whitney U test and are shown as the mean ± SEM. ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001.