a, b, Immunohistochemistry of the microglial marker CD11b and ASC in sections derived from brains of patients with AD (a) or controls without dementia (Con) (b) (top), and omitting either the primary (middle) or secondary (bottom) antibody. c, Percentage of ASC specks detected by immunohistochemistry in- and outside of microglial cells in sections derived from brains of patients with AD (AD-in and AD-ex) and age-matched controls without dementia (Con-in and Con-ex). n = 10 human cases. One-way ANOVA, Tukey test, ***P < 0.0001. d, Percentage of ASC specks detected by immunohistochemistry in- and outside (-in and -ex, respectively, on y axis) of microglial cells in sections derived from the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice at the indicated ages given in months (m). n = 10 mice. Two-tailed Student’s t-test, ***P < 0.0001. e, Number of ASC specks bound to Aβ deposits per visual field observed. n = 5 mice. Two-tailed Student’s t-test, *P = 0.0216. f, ASC expression in brain lysates derived from wild type (WT) and APP/PS1 transgenic mice at 4, 8, 12 and 24 months of age. g, Hippocampal sections of 8-month-old wild-type (WT), Asc−/−, APP/PS1 and APP/PS1;Asc−/− mice were stained for the microglial marker CD11b and ASC in the presence of primary and secondary antibodies (left) or in the absence of the respective primary antibody (right). h, Hippocampal sections of 8-month-old wild-type, Asc−/−, APP/PS1 and APP/PS1;Asc−/− mice were stained for the microglial marker CD11b and ASC in the presence of the primary and secondary antibodies (left, same panels as shown in g) or in the absence of the respective secondary antibody (right). Experiments were performed independently two (f) or three (a, b, g, h) times or were performed once (c–e). Scale bars, 15 μm (a, b, g, h). Data are mean ± s.e.m. (c–e). Source data