Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 1735-1502 13 2 2014 04 15 125 130 EN Hamid Reza Jafarinaveh Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Mohammad Allahtavakoli Physiology -Pharmacology Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Hossein Rezazadeh Physiology -Pharmacology Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Mohammad Kazemi Arababadi Immunology of Infectious Diseases Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Mohammad Mohsen Taghavi Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Ali Shamsizadeh Physiology -Pharmacology Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Mohammad Reza Rahmani Physiology -Pharmacology Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran 2015 10 16 Increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines have been recorded after the onset  of transient  or  permanent  brain  ischemia and  are  usually associated with  exacerbation  of ischemic injury. Embolic stroke model is more relevant to the pathophysiological situation in such  patients, because the  majority of  ischemic injuries in humans  are induced  by old thrombi that originate from the heart and carotid arteries. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate changes of inflammatory cytokines after embolic stroke. Rats were subjected to embolic stroke, induced by a natural old clot which was injected in Middle Cerebral Artery (MCA), or  sham  stroke, which the  same volume of  saline was injected into the MCA. At 48 h after stroke induction, the levels of 5 cytokines (IL-1α and β, IL-6, IFN-γ and TNF-α) were determined in 500 µg of total protein using the Bio-Plex Rat Cytokine Array (BioRad), according to the manufacturer’s instructions in ischemic and non- ischemic cortices. While stroke animals showed infarctions and neurological deficits, we did not observe any cerebral infarction and neurological deficits in sham-operated animals. The levels of IL-1α (p=0.000) and -β (p =0.004), IL-6 (p =0.008), TNF-α (p =0.000) and IFN-γ (p =0.044) were significantly increased compared to sham treated animals. The findings of the present study suggest that part of ischemic injury in the embolic stroke may be mediated through the increased levels of inflammatory cytokines. https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/view/466 https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/download/466/371