Figure 2

Expression levels of molecules in the ChTLR15/ChNF-κB-ChNLRP3/ChIL-1β signaling pathway axis in cecal tissues of Eimeria-challenged chickens. Twenty-one-day-old specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens were randomly divided into three groups. Each chicken in group 1 (low dosage infection group) was orally challenged with 5000 E. tenella sporulated oocysts, group 2 (high dosage infection group) with 30 000 E. tenella sporulated oocysts, and group 3 (control group) with 500 μL of PBS (pH 7.2). Ceca from chickens in each group (n = 5) were sampled at 4, 12, 24 and 72 h post-infection. A mRNA expression levels of ChTLR15, ChMyD88, Ch ChNF-κB, ChNLRP3, ChCaspase-1, ChIL-18 and ChIL-1β were quantified by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Chicken β-actin was used as a reference gene. B Protein expression levels of ChTLR15 and ChNLRP3 were determined by Western blot. Capital letter C represents the control group; L represents the low-dosage infection group; H represents the high-dosage infection group. C Protein levels of ChIL-1β in cecal tissues were determined using an ELISA Kit (Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute, Nanjing, China) according to the manufacturer's instructions. *Indicates a significant difference (^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001).