title: No role for interleukin-18 in acute murine stroke-induced brain injury.
abstract: There is now extensive evidence to show that the cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) contributes directly to reversible and permanent ischemic brain damage in rodents. Because interleukin-18 (IL-18) shares many structural and functional similarities with IL-1, the authors tested the hypothesis that IL-18 contributes directly to ischemic brain damage in mice exposed to focal, reversible (15-minute or 30-minute) middle cerebral artery occlusion. IL-18 expression was not induced acutely by middle cerebral artery occlusion, and deletion of the IL-18 gene (IL-18 knockout mice) did not affect infarct volume. The present results suggest that IL-18 does not contribute to acute ischemic brain damage.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rachel D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: Herve
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boutin
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Touzani
authors.forename: Giamal N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Luheshi
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Nancy J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Rothwell
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D001835:Body Weight; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout
chemical_list: D020382:Interleukin-18