NES and ischemic stroke: Intracerebroventricular injection of EGF can enhance nestin expression and reduce neurological deficit and infarct volume after focal cerebral infarction in adult hypertensive rats (Yu et al., 2009), and promoting endogenous neurogenesis by EGF may be a novel therapeutic strategy against ischemic stroke (Teramoto, Qiu, Plumier, & Moskowitz, 2003).