Fig. (1).

Crosstalk between the spleen and brain in the acute phases of stroke. The ischemic brain induces a reduction in spleen volume by stimulating the autonomic nervous system and releasing chemokines and CNS antigens, which cause the spleen to release immune cells and cytokines into the blood. The immune cells and cytokines traffic to the ischemic brain tissue and aggravate the cerebral infarction. This results in a cycle of injury from brain-to-spleen-to-brain. (A higher resolution / colour version of this figure is available in the electronic copy of the article).