TNF and hypertensive disorder: To determine the effect of TLR4 blockade within the PVN on inflammatoy response in hypertension, we examined the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (PICs), TNF-α and IL-1β mRNA (Figure 6A-B) and protein (Figure 6 C-D) levels in the PVN by real time RT PCR and western immunoblot, respectively.