Fig. 1

Experimental protocol and four time points for detecting the beating rate of cardiomyocytes (CMs). a Experimental protocols. Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), cardiomyocytes (CMs) and cocultured CMs and CFs (CMs + CFs) were randomly assigned to one of five groups: 1) C group, in which the cells were incubated under normal conditions in a CO2 incubator; 2) M group, in which the cells were exposed to hypoxia/ reoxygenation as we described above; 3) D group, in which the cells were pretreated with 1 μg/ml dexmedetomidine (DEX) 2 h before hypoxia/reoxygenation; 4) 950 group, in which the cells were treated with 1 μM MCC950 during hypoxia/reoxygenation and 2 h before it; and 5) D + 950 group, in which the cells were treated with 1 μM MCC950 during DEX preconditioning and hypoxia/reoxygenation,. b Four time points for detecting the myocardial cell beat frequency of cocultured CMs and CFs (CMs + CFs). We detected the beat frequency of CMs at these four time points as indicated by the arrow. 1–2 (group M): 1, normal; 2, after hypoxia/reoxygenation. 3–4 (group D): 3, normal; 4, after hypoxia/reoxygenation. DEX, dexmedetomidine; CMs, cardiomyocytes; CFs, cardiac fibroblasts; CMs + CFs, cocultured cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts; MCC950, a potent selective NLRP3 inhibitor