Caspase 1 14f468

Ear tissues were fixed with 10% formalin and embedded in paraffin. Fixed tissues were cut into 5 μm sections and deparaffinized. Sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) or toluidine blue for light-microscopic examinations or mast cell infiltration assays, respectively. The epidermis and dermis thicknesses were measured using the iSolution DT36 software (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). The inflammation severity was scored as follows:^{26 (link)} 0, none; 1, minimal; 2, mild; 3, moderate; and 4, marked. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining was performed using a commercial kit (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). For confocal microscopic analysis, sections were stained with antibodies against caspase-1 (14F468) or ASC (N-15) (both from Santa Cruz Biotechnology). Images were acquired with an LSM510 confocal laser scanning microscope (Carl Zeiss).