Gene expression data of C57BL/6, Il1a-knockout and Il1b-knockout mice at 24 hours after spinal cord injury

We have previously shown that Il1a-knockout (KO) mice exhibit rapid (at day 1) and persistent improvements in locomotion associated with reduced lesion volume compared with Il1b-KO mice and C57BL/6 controls after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). To investigate the mechanism by which Il1a mediates its detrimental effect, we analyzed the transcriptome of the injured spinal cord of Il1a-KO, Il1b-KO and C57BL/6 mice at 24 hours after SCI using GeneChip microarrays. Il1a-KO, Il1b-KO and C57BL/6 mice were subjected to a 50-kdyn SCI and a 6-mm spinal cord segment centered over the site of contusion extracted for RNA isolation and microarray analysis.