Aged male rats underwent 90 min of MCAO and were randomly selected to receive either vehicle or MRE-269 (0.25 mg/kg; i.v.) given at 4.5 h and an additional dose at 12 h after stroke onset. Animals were sacrificed 18 h post-MCAO and perfused with ice-cold saline, the ipsilateral and contralateral cerebral cortex were saved for RNA extraction and western blot studies. Transcript levels of IL-1β (A), TNF-α (B), IL-6 (C), and MCP-1 (D) were determined by RT-qPCR. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM, *P<0.05, ***P<0.001 versus sham and #P<0.05 versus vehicle. Sham, n=5; Vehicle, n=12; MRE-269, n=13. CXI = cortex ipsilateral to stroke; CXC = cortex contralateral to stroke.