TNF and Stroke: The dose of etanercept was chosen based on previous studies in the literature, which have shown that daily treatment with 1.25 mg/kg etanercept decreases renal TNF-α levels and downstream inflammation in male DOCA-salt rats [15], attenuates angiotensin II-induced increases in MCP-1 [28], and attenuates hypertensive middle cerebral artery remodeling in male stroke-prone SHR [27].