Fig. 10: The DEndo-UdECM/Tβ4@PLGA hydrogel simultaneously suppresses pyroptosis and canonical TGF-β/Smad signaling.

a Schematic illustrating the dual mechanism of action, where the composite hydrogel inhibits both the TGF-β-driven fibrotic pathway and the pyroptotic inflammatory pathway (Created in BioRender. Zhaowei, Y. (2025) https://BioRender.com/ul4iqzn). b–k Western blot analysis of key signaling proteins in endometrial tissue lysates 14 days post-treatment. b Representative western blot images. c–g Quantification of proteins involved in the pyroptosis pathway: Gasdermin D (GSDMD; c), its N-terminal fragment (GSDMD-NT; d), pro-caspase-1 (e), and the mature inflammatory cytokines IL-1β (f) and IL-18 (g). h–k Quantification of proteins involved in the fibrosis pathway: α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA; h), the ratio of phosphorylated Smad3 (P-Smad3) to total Smad3 (i), Collagen Type I Alpha 1 (COL1A1; j), and TGF-β1 (k). l, m Immunofluorescence analysis of TGF-β1 expression in endometrial tissue. l Representative images. TGF-β1 is shown in green, and cell nuclei are counterstained with DAPI (blue). High-magnification insets (Zoom) of the boxed areas are provided. Scale bars, 100 µm. m Quantification of TGF-β1 mean fluorescence intensity. In all quantitative plots (c–k, m), data are presented as scatter dot plots from n = 6 biologically independent animals, with data shown as mean ± s.d. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. Detailed statistical analyses, including exact P values, test statistics (F values and degrees of freedom), and 95% confidence intervals, are provided in the Source Data file.