IL1B and serum lipopolysaccharide activity: In addition, NLRP3 levels also appear to increase with other factors such as age and consumption of a Western diet, it could be that the increase in NLRP3/IL-1b reduces the resiliency of the brain to respond to a secondary insult such as gut-derived endotoxemia from microbiota dysbiosis and/or intestinal barrier dysfunction (11, 221, 222).