AKT1 and brain infarction: Icariin is a quinlizidine flavone extracted from Epimedium L. (Yin-Yang-Huo in Chinese); this in combination with MSCs greatly improves cerebral infarction, neurologic deficits of motor and somatosensory function, and promotes angiogenesis and neurogenesis via activation of PI3K/AKT pathway and consequently increases VEGF and BDNF (107).