However, sovateltide treatment induced expression of DCX, HuC/HuD and NeuroD1 in the right ischemic cerebral hemispheres of rat brains at 24 h post MCAO, which suggests a role of sovateltide in maintenance and differentiation of NPCs to generate new neural cells after acute ischemia (Fig. 8). Here, NEUROD1 is linked to ischemia.