Fig. 7

Role of l-arginine (LA) mediated ROS/NLRP3/NF-κB signaling pathway in cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-induced primary bronchial epithelial cell (BEC) injury and molecular docking of LA and NLRP3. Western blot of ROS/NLRP3/NF-κB signaling pathway in CES-induced BECs (A), Quantification of ROS/NLRP3/NF-κB signaling pathway in CES-induced BECs (B). The expression levels of NLRP3 (C) and p-NF-κBp65 (D) in CES-induced BECs by immunofluorescence (× 100). (n = 3). Molecular docking result of LA and NLRP3 (E): The binding energy predicted by Autodock is − 5.79 kcal/mol for LA-NLRP3 (The binding energy predicted by Autodock <  − 6.00 is considered to be high degree of integration). All data were presented as mean ± SD. Compared with control: ^##P < 0.01