IL6 and ischemia: Furthermore, we found that IL-6 expression was higher 3- and 5-day post-ischemia in the hippocampus of AhR+/+ mice compared with AhR-/- mice (*p = 0.0377; **p = 0.0091) (Fig 5D), supporting the role of AhR in exacerbating the neuroinflammatory response to ischemia.