VEGFA and Stroke: NBP confers neuroprotection by upregulating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/CD31 to enhance angiogenesis and by dampening oxidative/nitrosative stress and pro-inflammatory pathways, thereby reducing infarct volume, improving neurological function, cerebral perfusion and mitochondrial fusion, and optimizing stroke outcome (Chen et al., 2020; Dai et al., 2023; Zhu et al., 2024).