HGF and Stroke: ADSCs also have the capacity to secrete a wide spectrum of trophic factors, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which may contribute to stroke symptom improvement in animal models by preventing neuronal apoptosis, enhancing the intrinsic repair response and modulating inflammation [23, 44, 50, 71].