BDNF and ischemia: Interestingly, in their study Kokaia et al. [85] reported no changes in mRNA expression in the neocortex after the ischemia; this, besides pointing out the importance of analyzing BDNF at the protein level, also led to suggest that the cortex, having low baseline BDNF protein levels, is a region intrinsically vulnerable to ischemia and that BDNF, though decreasing during the 24 h, can play a neuroprotective role after the BCCAO/R challenge.