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Cardiac arrest and stroke as a life-threatening event that may occur in throughout the female life, especially during pregnancy or after delivery. Previous studies demonstrated that cerebral ischemia during pregnancy or the puerperium is a rare occurrence but is associated with significant mortality and high morbidity. This study was designed to assess the effects of pregnancy and lactation on behavioral deficits, neural density, and angiogenesis in rat dams undergoing global ischemia. Thirty-two female Wistar rats were divided into four groups: virgin-Sham (Vir-Sham) group, virgin-ischemic (Vir-Isc) group, pregnancy-lactation-sham (P-L-Sham) group, and pregnancy-lactation-ischemic (P-L-Isc) group. Global brain ischemia was induced in ischemic groups by using the 2-vessel occlusion (2-VO) model at the end of lactation phase. Seven days after 2-VO, anxiety-like signals and passive avoidance memory tests were assessed in animals. We found that the lactation significantly improved memory and reduced anxiety-like signals in P-L-Isc group as compared with Vir-Isc group. Moreover, angiogenesis and neural density significantly increased in the P-L-Isc group as compared with the Vir-Isc group. This finding for the first time indicated that lactation protects the maternal brain against ischemic insult partly through promoting angiogenesis and neurogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]