The present paper is aimed to investigate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on proliferation, migration and differentiation of endogenous neural stem cell in rat cerebral cortex with global brain ischemia-reperfusion. A global brain ischemia-reperfusion model was established. Immunohistochemistry was used to observe the pathological changes and the expression of BrdU and Nestin in cerebral cortex. RT-PCR was used to measure the NSE mRNA in brain tissue. The results of measurements indicated that in sham operation group, there was no positive cell in cerebral cortex, and the content of NSE mRNA did not change. In the operation group, the expression of BrdU and Nestin increased significantly at the end of the 3rd day, and peaked on the 7th day. NSE mRNA expression did not significantly increase. In bFGF group, compared with sham operation group and model group, the number of BrdU-positive and Nestin-positive cells increased significantly at each time point (P<0.05), and peaked at the end of the 11th day, and the content of NSE mRNA increased significantly (P<0.05). This research demonstrated that the proliferation of endogenous neural stem cells in situ could be induced by global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion, and could be promoted and extended by bFGF. In additiion, bFGF might promote endogenous neural stem cells differentiated into neurons.