Brain ischemia involves excitatory amino acid toxicity, oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction and cellular apoptosis. Saving dying neurons in the ischemic penumbra and promoting the recovery of neurological function are important for the treatment of brain ischemia. Chinese medicine involves multiple targets and multiple links. This treatment can activate endogenous neural stem cells, block ischemic cascade reactions, inhibit delayed apoptosis, and prolong the treatment time-window at different times and by different pathways post-ischemia.
In this issue of NRR, four papers discuss the protective effects on brain ischemia of monomers in traditional Chinese medicine, including icariin and picroside II. In addition, these papers investigated the possible therapeutic mechanisms underlying the treatment of brain ischemia with monomers in traditional Chinese medicine.

? Anti-oxidant effect of picroside II in a rat model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury
Neural Regen Res. 2011;6(15):1141-1146.

? Picroside II down-regulates matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats
Neural Regen Res. 2010;5(18):1403-1407.

? Inhibitory effect of icariin on expression of myelin inhibitory factors in the central nervous system of rats with focal cerebral ischemia
Neural Regen Res. 2010;5(16):1211-1215.

? Protective mechanisms of picroside II on aquaporin-4 expression in a rat model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury
Neural Regen Res. 2010;5(6):411-417.