Compared with normothermic controls, rodents with heatstroke have higher values of cellular ischemia (e.g., glutamate and lactate-to-pyruvate ratio) and damage (e.g., glycerol) markers, prooxidant enzymes (e.g., lipid peroxidation and glutathione oxidation markers), proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α), inducible nitric oxide-synthase-dependent nitric oxide and an indicator for the accumulation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (e.g., myeloperoxidase activity) as well as neuronal damage (e.g., apoptosis and necrosis) in the hypothalamus after heat stroke. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is Heat Stroke.