Curcumin nanoparticles mitigate early inflammation in severe acute pancreatitis by modulating peritoneal macrophage polarization via Nrf2/HO-1 pathway activation

Figure 3 Curcumin nanoparticles induce polarization of peritoneal macrophages toward the M2 phenotype in vivo. A: Flow cytometric analysis of CD86 and CD163, specific proteins for peritoneal macrophages, showing co-expression of CD68 and CD45 in both M1 and M2 macrophages; B: The ratio of M1/M2 positive cells; C: The expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and CD163 mRNA, with the internal reference gene GAPDH normalized; D: The expression level of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β in cell homogenate; E: The expression level of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in the cell homogenate; F: Representative immunoblots of iNOS and CD163 proteins with corresponding quantitative grayscale analysis. The data were expressed as mean ± SD (n = 6 rats in each group). ^aP < 0.05 vs sham, ^bP < 0.05 vs severe acute pancreatitis. Cur-NPs: Curcumin nanoparticles; SAP: Severe acute pancreatitis; iNOS: Inducible nitric oxide synthase.