TNF gene deletion prevents lipopolysaccharide-mediated sensitisation of the neonatal mouse brain to hypoxic-ischaemic insult

Introduction An increasing body of evidence suggests a synergistic link between infection/inflammation and hypoxia-ischaemia in the pathogenesis of perinatal brain injury. Deletion of the TNF cytokine gene cluster (TNF, LTa and LTb) has previously been shown to abolish lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated sensitisation of the developing brain to hypoxic-ischaemic (HI) insult. In this study, I investigated if single TNF and LTb gene deletions prevented LPSsensitised HI brain injury.