MMP2 and Cognitive impairment: For example, pharmacological inhibition of HIF-1α by YC-1 markedly suppressed the expression of HIF-1α, VEGF and MMP-2, mitigated the severity of BBB disruption and attenuated isoflurane-induced cognitive deficits in the Morris water maze task in aged rat model of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (Cao et al., 2018).