VCAN and ischemia: Here, the measured gene expression of the lecticans aggrecan (Acan), brevican (Bcan), and neurocan (Ncan), both splice variants of versican (Vcan) as well as chondroitin sulfate N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 1 (Csgalnact1), as components of the CSPGs that are widely expressed in the normal central nervous system [88, 89], reacted in a decreasing manner in the ischemia-affected striatum and neocortex.