NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor MCC950 attenuates primary dysmenorrhea in mice via the NF-κB/COX-2/PG pathway

BACKGROUND: Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) constitutes a common gynecological disease among young women. The NLRP3 inflammasome may be activated and expressed in PD, but the mechanistic link between NLRP3 inflammasome activation and PD is still unclear. METHODS: To investigate the potential role of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in the pathogenesis of PD, 30 female Kunming mice without pregnancy were used for experiments. The PD mouse model was constructed by 11 days of successive co-treatment with estradiol and oxytocin. MCC950, a potent and specific small-molecule inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome, was used to treat PD mice. The disease level was assessed by the writhing response and hot water tail-flick test. The levels of prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) and prostaglandin F(2) alpha (PGF(2α)) in the uterine tissues of mice were detected by ELISA. The expression levels of protein and cytokines, including NLRP3, cysteine aspartic acid-specific protease 1 (caspase-1), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-18, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65, phospho-NF-κB p65, and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were revealed by western blot analysis. RESULTS: MCC950 greatly ameliorated the writhing response induced by the combination of oxytocin and estradiol, with an increasing length of tail-flick latency. MCC950 also significantly decreased the levels of PGF(2α) and PGE(2), and the expressions of NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1β, IL-18, phospho-NF-κB p65, NF-κB p65, and COX-2 in the uterus. CONCLUSIONS: MCC950 markedly alleviated the pain and pathological damage in PD mice by inhibiting NLRP3 activation. The underlying mechanism may be related to hypoactive uterine inflammation via suppression of NLRP3 activation and the NF-κB/COX-2/PG pathway in uteruses of PD mice.