Methods to study cell swelling-induced inflammasome activation

Abstract

Cells present ancestral conserved mechanisms to maintain their volume in response to alterations in environmental osmolarity. Changes in environmental osmolarities are therefore conserved as primitive stress signals. Innate immune cells, such as macrophages, express receptors to respond and shape immune response to stress, damage, or infection. The NLRP3 inflammasome is a multiprotein complex expressed in macrophages that senses pathogen- and danger-associated signals. The basic mechanisms of cell swelling and regulatory volume decrease are sensed by the NLRP3 inflammasome. Here, we present methods to study NLRP3 inflammasome activation in response to cell swelling.