It has been shown that CX3CL1 is neuroprotective in cultured rat hippocampal neurons (Limatola et al., 2005; Cipriani et al., 2011) and Cx3cr1−/− mice show reduced damage after cerebral ischemia; this protection may be due to the anti-inflammatory state of local microglia (Tang et al., 2014). This evidence concerns the gene CX3CL1 and brain ischemia.