Moreover, in a focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rat model of arterial embolism, total flavonoids from hawthorn leaves reduced the expressions of MMP-9 (gelatinase B) significantly, in addition to decreasing the degradation of proteins in the vascular basement membrane and extracellular matrix, further reducing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, brain edema, and the size of cerebral infarct, thereby exerting a protective effect on the cerebrum, and this effect was attributed to the inhibition of the Caspase-3-mediated apoptotic pathway (Liu and Bao, 2006; Qu et al., 2019). Here, MMP9 is linked to cerebral infarction.