The increase in CX3CR1 protein levels (Fig. 9a), but decrease in CX3CR1 promotor-driven GFP expression in subset of microglia (Fig. 3a), in control brains by stroke implicates that the elevation of CX3CR1 protein levels is likely due to an enrichment in populations of microglia/macrophages in the injury side of brains, as compared with that in contralateral side. Here, CX3CR1 is linked to Stroke.