Murine Model of Autoimmune Hepatitis

Six to eight weeks old BALB/c mice were purchased from Shanghai SLAC laboratory animal Co. Ltd. (Shanghai, China). NLRP3^−/− mice had been described before (28 (link), 29 (link)). Caspase-1^−/− mice were obtained from Jackson Laboratory. Both NLRP3^−/− and caspase-1^−/− mice had been crossed with BALB/c mice for 10 generations for the current project. To establish the murine model of AIH, ConA was injected by tail vein at a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight. RhIL-1Ra was given intraperitoneally at 20 mg/kg every 6 for 24 h before ConA injection, and the treatment with rhIL-1Ra was ongoing until sacrifice. NAC was intraperitoneally administrated 2 h before ConA injection at a dosage of 0.6 mg/kg. Mice were sacrificed at indicated time points for sampling of serum and liver. Blood obtained from orbital sinus was collected and stand for 1 h. The serum was separated by centrifuging at 3,000 rpm for 10 min at 4°C and used for the detection of liver function and cytokine levels.