[Cytokine synthesis: a new form of response of central neurons].

This report provides the immunohistochemical demonstration of the appearance of tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-1 alpha in neuronal cells of different regions of the brain after a surgical injury to the hippocampus. We also demonstrate, by an in situ hybridization technique using a digoxigenin-labeled probe, the induction of TNF alpha mRNA in these neurons. Control lesions in brain areas such as the striatum, the parietal cortex or the cerebellum do not induce the neuronal expression of these cytokines. We hypothesize that cytokines production by neurons may be related with neurotrophin synthesis and restoration of homeostasis in an attempt to promote survival and regeneration of specific neuronal cell populations after a lesion to the hippocampus.