MCP-1, a β-chemokine (chemoattractant cytokine), can regulate T cell differentiation and the balance between Th1 and Th2 cytokine expression. MCP-1 also directs monocyte infiltration following injury and/or inflammation. MCP-1 -/- and CCR2 -/- mice show altered retrograde neuronal degeneration in the thalamus following visual cortical injury with delayed cell death in MCP-1 -/- (SFN Abstr.26: 328, 2000). In the present study we analyzed thalamic chemokine/cytokine gene expression at 0, 24 and 72 hours after removal of the visual cortex in MCP-1 -/- and CCR2 -/- and wildtype mice. The data indicated that RANTES, interferon (IFN)-gamma(γ), and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1 alpha (α) were elevated in MCP-1 -/- compared to wildtype mice following injury. MIP-1α mRNA was also elevated in the CCR2 -/- compared to wildtype. At 24 hours following cortical injury, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) mRNA was signficantly elevated in MCP-1 -/-; TNF-α protein was elevated in all 3 strains of mice. TNFR1 mRN...