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

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.