Astrocyte activation may occur immediately after SCI, since many studies show that some indicators of astrocyte activation [glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), GFAP mRNA, pSTAT3, NF-κB and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs)] significantly increase within a few hours of CNS insults, in both brain injuries and SCI (Brambilla et al., 2005, 2009; O’Callaghan et al., 2014; Takano et al., 2014). The gene discussed is GFAP; the disease is brain injury.