BDNF and ischemia: During the course of ischemic stroke onset and progression, astrocytes can secrete critical neurotrophic and angiogenic factors such as VEGF and BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) to promote angiogenesis, improve cerebral blood flow, enhance neuronal activity, mitigate inflammatory cascades as well as ischemia-induced tissue damage (Shen et al., 2021; He et al., 2022; Li et al., 2022).