Ischemia-induced growth arrest of astrocytes can be overridden by inhibition of regulator of G protein signaling 2 (RGS2) and treatment with cytokine erythropoietin (EPO) [28, 29], and cytokine-mediated induction of astrocyte survival early post-ischemia may contribute to neuroprotective effect [30]. Here, RGS2 is linked to ischemia.