Stroke Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stroke, including details on treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, signs, symptoms.

TNF-alpha antibody infusion impairs survival of stroke-generated neuroblasts in adult rat brain.

Heldmann U, Thored P, Claasen JH, Arvidsson A, Kokaia Z, Lindvall O

Laboratory of Neurogenesis and Cell Therapy, Section of Restorative Neurology, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, University Hospital, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden.

Stroke induced by 2 h middle cerebral artery occlusion triggers increased striatal and hippocampal neurogenesis in adult rats. We investigated the effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibition on the survival of the new neurons. The mitotic marker BrdU was given on days 5 to 7, and TNF-alpha antibody or control protein was infused into the lateral ventricle of the ischemic hemisphere from day 8 to 14 after stroke. At the end of infusions, the TNF-alpha antibody-treated rats showed markedly fewer new striatal and hippocampal neurons, as compared to animals given control protein. The present findings suggest that TNF-alpha, probably acting via its receptor TNFR2, can promote the survival of stroke-generated hippocampal and striatal neurons.

Published 10 October 2005 in Exp Neurol, 196(1): 204-8.
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