Hei et al. (2017) found that ischemic stroke can induce autophagy by inhibiting mTOR, and can alleviate the degree of cerebral ischemia in rats with acute hyperglycemia-induced cerebral ischemic injury, which may explain the conclusion that “moderate autophagy” may have a protective effect on the “slow and mild” ischemic brain damage. Here, MTOR is linked to brain ischemia.