The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin(IL)-1beta plays a crucial role in ischemic pathophysiology, since pharmacologic inhibition of its biological effects provides neuroprotection after stroke. However, there is evidence suggesting that under certain circumstances the cytokine may also exert beneficial functions on brain injury. We have investigated the regional and cellular expression of IL-1beta after ischemia-reperfusion injury in the brain of rat, and correlated cytokine expression with the activation/recruitment of glial cells in the damaged tissue. By using a double immunofluorescence histochemical approach, we observed an increased cytokine immunoreactivity in the ischemic core, as early as 1 h after middle cerebral artery occlusion, in few activated OX-42-positive microglial cells and in perivascular GFAP-positive astrocytes, suggesting that the cytokine may participate in the early response of the neurovascular unit to reduced blood supply. After 2 h ischemia, followed by 2 h reperfusion, cytokine staining was evident in the astrocytes of the penumbra and in activated microglial cells of the ischemic core. Microglial activation increases with the progression of damage and, after 22 h reperfusion, OX-42-immunopositive cells were strongly labelled for IL-1beta in the core and, even more intensely, in the penumbra. At this later stage, GFAP-positive cells, appearing hypertrophic and distributed in a ring-like pattern around the ischemic core, do no longer express IL-1beta. Thus, a specific cellular and regional pattern of IL-1beta expression characterises the progression of ischemia-reperfusion injury. Depending on the stage and intensity of the insult, the different cellular origin of the cytokine may suggest a distinct role of this neuroinflammatory mediator in ischemic pathophysiology.