TNF-A Levels throughout the Critical Period for Experience-Dependent Plasticity in the Rat Primary Auditory Cortex

Tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF-α) is likely to play a role in brain plasticity. To determine whether TNF-α levels change throughout a critical period of experience-dependent brain plasticity, we assessed these levels in the primary auditory cortex of rats before, during and after the critical period (at postnatal day 7, postnatal day 12 and at adulthood, respectively). TNF-α levels in the auditory cortex increased from before to after a critical period of brain plasticity. We suggest that TNF-α may play a role in the brain plasticity that occurs in the auditory cortex.