Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world, but there are currently few effective clinical therapies for it. Alternatively, cell-based therapy has provided a promising hope to enhance tissue repair and functional recovery after stroke. Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) can be easily obtained from patients themselves without ethical or immunological problems and can proliferate massively in vitro. After transplantation, its can promote the neurogenesis and angiogenesis in ischemic brain. However, the cell therapy is limited by the poor survival of the transplanted cells in brain lesion. Studies confirmed that a large number of transplanted cells died in ischemic brain because of hypoxia, oxidative stress, inflammatory mediators and the deficiency of trophic factor.