Concerning inflammatory mediators, the role of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the pro-inflammatory chemokine stromal cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1) was confirmed in the pathogenesis of the illness by previous studies as the levels of these mediators were elevated in the urine and the blood plasma of cats with FIC, human patients with IC, in rats with experimentally induced cystitis and also in feline urinary bladder cell culture after acute exposure to NE (19, 21–24). This evidence concerns the gene CXCL12 and chronic cystitis.