Celastrol alleviates esophageal stricture in rats by inhibiting NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 activation

Figure 5 The effect of celastrol in preventing esophageal stricture in vivo. A: Rats were divided into the following five groups: Sham group, vehicle group, celastrol (CEL) group, prednisolone (PRED) group, and CEL plus PRED group. Inflammation was assessed on day 6, and fibrosis was evaluated on day 9; B: Representative barium esophagography image of esophageal stricture on day 9 in rats; C: Body weight (g) of rats (n = 5 in each group) (presented as mean ± SE). Statistical analysis was performed using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test for Day 1 and Day 3 and one-way ANOVA test for Day 5, Day 7, and Day 9, with the “vehicle” group as the control. Only statistically significant comparisons are marked in corresponding colors. ^aP < 0.001; ^bP = 0.005; ^cP = 0.01; ^dP = 0.01; ^eP = 0.01; ^fP = 0.004; ^gP = 0.02; ^hP = 0.01; ⁱP = 0.005; ^jP = 0.002; ^kP = 0.004; ^LP = 0.001; NLRP3: NLR family pyrin domain containing 3; CEL: Celastrol; PRED: Prednisolone; LPS: Lipopolysaccharide.