In many animal models, lesion size has been used as a measure of stroke severity without functional assessment.26 On the other hand, clinical studies focus on functional recovery outcomes following stroke, which are not often correlated with infarct volume.75, 76, 77 Our ET-1-induced stroke model displays a strong depression and anxiety phenotype that persists for at least 6 weeks post stroke, while at this time the lesion site in the left mPFC is barely detectable by CV staining. This evidence concerns the gene EDN1 and stroke disorder.