BDNF and ischemic stroke: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein expression in reactive astrocytes has been shown to increase in ischemic stroke (Qu et al., 2010; Bejot et al., 2011; Grade et al., 2013; Madinier et al., 2013; Choi et al., 2015) and after SCI (Dougherty et al., 2000; Tokumine et al., 2003).