ALDH2 deficiency in pancreatic acinar cells aggravates acute pancreatitis by promoting NLRP3 inflammasome activation through autophagy

Figure 1 Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 is upregulated with reduced enzymatic activity, alongside dysregulated inflammatory immune responses and autophagy in acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis (AP) was induced in C57BL/6 mice by seven intraperitoneal injections of caerulein (50 µg/kg). A: The expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) in pancreatic tissues for caerulein group and control group by immunoblotting (n = 3 per group); B: Immunofluorescence analysis of ALDH2 in acinar cells of pancreatic tissues from caerulein group and control group (n = 3 per group). Scale bar: 20 μm, magnification, 10 μm. MIST-1 is used as a marker of acinar cells; C: ALDH2 enzyme activity in pancreatic tissues of caerulein group and control group (n = 3 per group); D: Quantitative analysis of relative ALDH2 protein expression; E: Quantitative analysis of relative ALDH2 fluorescence intensity; F: Volcano plot of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pancreatic tissue between the caerulein group and control group, with red indicating upregulation and blue indicating downregulation (n = 3 per group). Thresholds: P adjusted values < 0.05 and |log2 fold change| ≥ 0.585; G: Gene Ontology enrichment analysis for the DEGs in pancreatic tissue between the caerulein group and control group (n = 3 per group). The results presented the top five significant outcomes for each section; H: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis for the DEGs in pancreatic tissue between the caerulein group and control group (n = 3 per group); I: Gene Set Enrichment Analysis of up-regulated cellular components (Immunoglobulin complex and T cell receptor complex) in the caerulein group (n = 3 per group). ^aP < 0.05. ALDH2: Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2; NES: Normalized enrichment score.