NLRP3 and nephritis: For example, the importance of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway in the nephrotoxic nephritis model in the Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rat was firstly highlighted by Deplano et al. Using P2X7 receptor-deficient model, they showed that P2RX7 activation could trigger the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway which was resulted in IL-1 and IL-18 release in macrophages (21).