IL6 and inflammatory bowel disease: Although PP cellularity was reduced acutely after stroke, we saw an increase in PP IL-2 and IL-9, cytokines important for lymphocyte proliferation and survival.65,66 In the colon, only IL-6 was elevated acutely after stroke, which is a known driver of structural alterations and pathology in inflammatory bowel disease.67 Differences in innervation across the gut68 may explain microenvironment specific changes to the cytokine mileu across the intestine after stroke.