IL1B and pneumonia: Figure 2D displays the histopathological results for the three groups (the Sham, M-saline, and M-DEX groups). The findings demonstrated that all the mice developed pneumonia 72 h after an MCAO stroke, and the HPS in the M-saline group were all below ten, while two in four of the HPS in the M-DEX group were above ten. When TNF-α, IL-1β, and IFN-γ were analyzed as pro-inflammatory cytokines, we found that DEX therapy did not affect their expression in the lung (Figures 2E–G).