GFAP and brain ischemia: Ren et al. [26] reported that astragalus could (1) eliminate free radicals and avoid lipid peroxidation to improve cerebral function, (2) reduce the content of excitatory amino acid and restrain the expression of heat shock protein 70 and alleviate the cerebral ischemic injury, (3) reduce the permeability of blood vessel and improve of hemorrheology after ischemia, (4) restrain the hypernormic expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein in early period of cerebral ischemia and inhibit neuronal apoptosis effectively.