NLRP3 and ischemia: Furthermore, previous pre-clinical studies have suggested that following ischemia, the increased expression of IL-1β after NLRP3 inflammasome activation may influence the permeability of cerebral microvasculature (including endothelial cells) and thus downregulate the expression of specific structures in the BBB (i.e., occluding tight junction proteins and zona occludens-1) [81,82,83].