IL6 and chronic cystitis: Our studies demonstrate: (1) imatinib prevention via oral gavage (i.e., 250 mg/kg, 1X/day, 5 days), but not imatinib treatment via a single intrabladder infusion (i.e., 50 μM, 30 min), reduces urinary bladder inflammatory mediator (e.g., VEGF, BDNF, CCL2, IL-6) mRNA and protein expression, and (2) both imatinib prevention and treatment designs reduce kinase (pERK, pAKT) immunoreactivity (IR) in the bladder LP in female mice with acute (4 h) CYP-induced cystitis.