In the present study, we determined whether administration of valproate, an anticonvulsant with multiple mechanisms of action including HDAC inhibition, and its positive control TSA, a potent broad HDAC inhibitor with no known anti-convulsant action, when given for almost 2 weeks during early life following a stroke, influences neurogenesis in the dorsal hippocampus of the maturing brain. The gene discussed is HDAC9; the disease is stroke disorder.