CD44 and ischemia: However, the expression of most of these BAM genes did not significantly change 16 h post-ischemia versus controls, with the exception of increased expression of Cd38 and Cd44. Although CD44 expression was previously considered as a marker of brain infiltrating cells [29], we detected the expression of Cd44 in CD163+ BAMs obtained from the control rat brain, in agreement with the finding of CD44+ BAMs in the control mouse brain [37].