Lipocalin-2 (LCN2), a member of the lipid carrier protein family, functions as an acute-phase protein after brain injury, and LCN2, an important marker of reactive astrocytes, is significantly up-regulated after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, which promotes neurological repair by enhancing phagocytosis of astrocytes and removing damaged tissue debris (Jung and Ryu, 2023). Here, LCN2 is linked to injury.