ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of hypoxia on the expression of IL-1βin macrophages.Methods RAW264.7 cells were treated with normoxia(21%O2),hypoxia(2%O2), normoxia(21%O2)plus LPS and hypoxia(2%O2)plus LPS.RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of Vegf,Nlrp3 and Il1b.Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of HIF-1α,NLRP3,caspase-1,cleaved caspase-1,Pro-IL-1βand IL-1β.The peritoneal macrophages of Vhlfl/fl/Apoe-/-mice and VhlΔMac/Apoe-/-mice were treated with or without LPS.RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of Vhl,Nlrp3,Il1b and Il6.Results Compared with nor-moxia, hypoxia significantly increased mRNA of Vegf, Nlrp3 and Il1b in RAW264.7(P<0.01).Hypoxia increased mRNA and protein of NLRP 3 and IL-1βin RAW264.7 induced with LPS comparing with normoxia(P<0.01).Hypoxia had no effects on the activation of caspase-1 and the subsequent maturation of Pro-IL-1βinduced with LPS in RAW264.7.Compared with Vhlfl/fl/Apoe-/-peritoneal macrophages,VhlΔMac/Apoe-/-peritoneal macro-phages showed significantly increased mRNA levels of Nlrp3,Il1b and Il6 induced with LPS(P<0.05).Conclu-sions Hypoxia amplifies lipopolysaccharide-induced IL-1βexpression in macrophages.