Fig. 2.

TBI-induced acute pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine up-regulation is mitigated by microglial p38α deficiency. Ipsilateral dorsal hippocampi were analyzed via high sensitivity multiplex MSD ELISA assay for pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines from sham and injured animals (n = 8–10/group) at a 1 day post-injury interval. a–c The TBI-induced increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα were significantly blunted, with ~ 50% lower levels in the p38α KO mice compared to WT mice. d The TBI-induced increase in IL-33 was also reduced in KO compared to WT mice, but this change was not significant. e,f The pro-inflammatory chemokines CCL2 and CXCL10 showed a marked reduction in the KO mice, compared to their injured WT counterparts. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparison corrections on the pre-planned contrasts examining the effect of TBI in the WT versus KO conditions. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, comparing KO (blue bars) to WT (orange bars)