The therapeutic effects of paeoniflorin in cerebral ischemia might be mediated by suppressing JNK/p38 activity, enhancing ERK1/2 activity, and inhibiting IκB-α and NF-κB expression in the hippocampus, cortex, and striatum, thereby reducing the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in ischemic brain tissue (Tang et al., 2010; Guo et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2015a; Zhang et al., 2017). This evidence concerns the gene MAPK8 and brain ischemia.