Salidroside directly activates HSC70, revealing a new role for HSC70 in BDNF signalling and neurogenesis after cerebral ischemia

Background: Ischemic stroke still has few effective therapies and novel neuroprotective agents are attracting great interest. One of these, salidroside, a principal bioactive component of Rhodiola crenulata, extracts of which are used to treat stroke, exhibits neuroprotective properties across a remarkably wide time window in experimental stroke models. Purpose: To explore whether salidroside induces neurogenesis after cerebral ischemia and to identify its primary molecular target.