Figure 7

NETs inhibited the proliferation of HG-treated rat CCSMCs by NLRP3 activation. (A,B) Evaluation of sh-NLRP3 transfection efficiency in CCSMCs using qRT-PCR and western blotting; the uncropped protein blots can be seen in Supplementary file 4. (C,D) Assessment of NLRP3 expression in HG-treated CCSMCs using qRT-PCR and western blotting; the uncropped protein blots can be seen in Supplementary file 4. (E) Assessment of H3Cit expression in HG-treated CCSMCs using western blotting; the uncropped protein blots can be seen in Supplementary file 4. (F,G) Assessment of the viability and apoptosis in HG-treated CCSMCs using CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. (C–G) sh-NC- or sh-NLRP3-transfected CCSMCs were subjected to HG (25 mM) treatment or/and co-cultured with 1 × 10⁴ neutrophils (N) for 24 h. CCSMCs cultured in 5 nM glucose served as controls. Data were presented as mean ± standard deviation. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01. NET neutrophil extracellular trap, NLRP3 NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain-containing protein 3, HG high glucose, CCSMCs corpus cavernosum smooth muscle cells, qRT-PCR quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, H3Cit citrullinated histone H3, CCK-8 cell counting kit-8.