STIP1 and brain ischemia: To further explore this mechanism, we overexpressed the rat brain with Flag-tagged STI-1 by intracerebral injection of LV-STI1-Flag 30 min post-cerebral ischemia (distribution shown in Fig 8A), and found substantial neuroprotection and behavioural recovery compared to control rats receiving LV-GFP instead (Fig 8A–J).