Experimental Design.

<p>Mice underwent osmotic pump implantation two days prior to MCAO. Starting at the day of the MCAO, mice received daily intraperitoneal injections of Bromo-deoxy-Uridine (BrdU) for 7 days. 24 hours after reperfusion, T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed. On day 5 after MCAO, osmotic pumps were removed. Animals underwent behavioral testing: Open Field test at day 7, Pole test at day 9, rotarod at day 10, and Morris Water Maze (MWM) with seven days of training prior to probe trial on day 21. Then, animals were sacrificed and brains were extracted for immunohistochemical analysis.