Microarray analysis of ischemic lesions of WT and TNFRI KO mice

TNF/TNFRI signaling has previously been shown to exert neuroprotective effects after brain ischemic injury. However, the detailed pathways involved remain unidentified. This study aims to identify key neuroprotective molecules activated by TNFRI after permanent ischemic injury in mice. Microarray analysis of the ipsilateral hemispheres of WT and TNFRI knockout at early time points (3 and 6 hours) after the middle cerebral artery occlusion mice were chosen to study the CNS response to injury without significant immune infiltration. Using the ATLAS mouse cDNA arrays that include known genes representative of multiple pathways, we identify novel protective pathways triggered by TNFRI signaling after ischemia. Keywords: brain, ischemic lesion, comparison between WT and TNFRI knockout mice, cDNA array, two different time points (3 and 6 h) RNA was extracted from WT (n=2) and TNFRI KO (n=2) mice at each time point studied (3 and 6 h after ischemia). For each individual sample two hybridisations were performed.