In the present study, we investigated in vivo and in post-mortem tissue from ischemic stroke subjects whether caspase-8 and caspase-3 activation, key players of the caspase-dependent signaling pathways regulating microglia and macrophages (MMs) pro-inflammatory activation, exhibited spatiotemporal features upon ischemic stroke. The gene discussed is CASP3; the disease is ischemic stroke.