TNF and alcohol abuse: Third, chronic alcohol abuse may cause damage to the frontal cortex, for example, by increasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin 6 (IL6), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), and interleukin 1 beta (IL1β) in the prefrontal cortex areas of the brain (King et al., 2020; Zahr & Pfefferbaum, 2017), all responsible for maintaining spatial working memory (van Asselen et al., 2006).