Fig 2: RT-qPCR. The relative expression levels of (A) IL-1 and (B) IL-6 mRNA in HeLa cells treated with 10 µg/ml PM2.5 were significantly higher than those in NC group (P<0.05). *P<0.05.

Fig 3: Western blotting. Compared with HeLa cells in NC group, the relative expression levels of (A) IL-1 and (B) IL-6 proteins in HeLa cells treated with 10 µg/ml PM2.5 were significantly increased. (C) Western blots of IL-1 and IL-6 protein in the two groups of cells are shown. *P<0.05.

Fig 4: The ligature notably increased the serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and GV1001 completely inverted such an increase. Levels of TNF-a, IL-1ß, and IL-6 from the mouse serum were measured using pre-coated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) plates. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) served as a loading control. Statistical analysis was performed with one-way ANOVA. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p <0.001, and **** p < 0.0001. ns—not significantly different between two groups.

Fig 5: The ligature placement moderately increased the expression levels of IL-1ß, TNF-a, and IL-6 pro-inflammatory cytokines in arterial tissue, and GV1001 completely blocked such increases. The gene expression was measured with qRT-PCR. GAPDH served as a loading control. Statistical analysis was performed with one-way ANOVA. ns—not significantly different between two groups (p > 0.05), ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, and **** p < 0.0001. Results represent the means ± SEM performed in 2–5 samples.