Fig. 1

NLRP3 KO gut microbiota affected depressive-like behavior. a Compared with WT mice, NLRP3 inflammasome deficiency exerted no significant effect on the sucrose preference induced by CUS. b–d Compared with WT mice, NLRP3 inflammasome deficiency inhibited the increased immobility time in the FST (b) and TST (c) induced by CUS. N = 6–13 mice/group. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001 vs. the WT control group. ^##p < 0.01 and ^###p < 0.001 vs. the CUS-treated WT group using one-way ANOVA followed by the Holm-Sidak test. d–f Cohousing reduced the significant differences in behavior between WT and NLRP3 KO littermates, as demonstrated by the FST (d) and TST (e). f Cohousing exerted no significant effect on sucrose preference. N = 11 mice/group. *p < 0.05 and ***p < 0.001 vs. the si-house-treated WT group using Student’s t test. si-house, only WT mice or KO mice were housed in a cage; cohouse, WT and KO mice were housed in a cage