Members of the death receptor family may play a prominent role in developmental and pathological neuronal cell death. We report the expression of the TR3 and TR7 death receptors in the adult human and rat central nervous system. Whereas expression of TR3 appears to be high in the human cerebellum, with lower levels in other brain regions, robust expression is observed in many regions of the rat brain. We also analyzed modulation of death receptor expression in an in vivo rat model of acute stroke. In contrast to tumor necrosis factor receptor 1, Fas and p75(NGFR), which all show up-regulation specifically in lesioned cortex of the permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion model of stroke. TR3 shows a rapid global increase in both lesioned and unlesioned brain. In comparison, the recently described death receptor TR7 shows no change in this model. These data indicate that the death receptors show clear differences in patterns of expression in response to ischemic injury. ¿ 2000 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.