IL1B and Stroke: Serum IL-1beta was significantly elevated in post-stroke saline-treated group at day 2 (68.68 ± 7.19 pg/ml) compared to the levels of baseline (39.76 ± 2.11 pg/ml; p = 0.0419), while the NaB-treated group maintained similar levels at baseline (38.45 ± 4.35 pg/ml), 2d (32.88 ± 4.12 pg/ml, p = 0.4491 baseline vs. 2 days), and 5 days (25.09 ± 4.72 pg/ml, p = 0.8559 baseline vs. 5 days) post stroke (Fig. 5a).