TNF and dementia: In animal models with AD, dementia, or senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8), both perioperative and non-perioperative interventional studies using probiotics and prebiotics consistently showed decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, microglial activation, and oxidative status, including interleukin 6 (IL-6) and TNF-α (Tables 1, 2).