Fig. 1From: Pericytes are protective in experimental pneumococcal meningitis through regulating leukocyte infiltration and blood–brain barrier functionHuman and murine brain pericytes release selected cytokines upon S. pneumoniae challenge. Protein array analyses of cell-culture supernatants obtained from murine (A) and human (B) primary brain pericytes stimulated with S. pneumoniae (MOI = 40) or its vehicle for 6 h. The differentially expressed proteins are outlined with red rectangles, the positive controls with blue rectangles and the negative controls with green rectangles. IL-6 concentrations (determined by ELSA) in cell-culture supernatants of murine (blue bars; C) and human (red bars; D) primary brain pericytes 6 h after exposure to increasing concentrations of antibiotic-lysed serotype 2 S. pneumoniae (MOI = 2.5, 10, 40, 160). THY (= Todd–Hewitt broth supplemented with 0.2% yeast extract, used for culturing S. pneumoniae) and cell-culture medium served as negative controls. Effect of various anti-TLR antagonists (T2.5 = neutralizing antir-TLR2 antibody; TAK242 = a TLR4 antagonist; CQ = chloroquine = an endosomal TLR antagonist) and the NF-κB inhibitor parthenolide on S. pneumoniae (MOI = 40)-induced IL-6 release from murine (E) and human (F) primary brain pericytes. Response of human brain pericytes to conditioned media (green bars) from wild-type (WT), TLR2-deficient, ASC-deficient, and Nlrp3-deficient THP-1 cells stimulated with either THY or S. pneumoniae (MOI = 80; G). Response of human brain pericytes to conditioned media from S. pneumoniae-stimulated WT THP-1 treated either with the caspase-1 inhibitor VX-765, the Nlrp3 inhibitor MCC950, or its vehicles (DMSO or PBS, H). Data are given as individual values as well as means ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001, using ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons testBack to article page