Objective To investigate the effect of epidermal growth factor coordination (EGFC) in the acute stage of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats, and to provide a theoretical and experimental basis for bench to bedside translation. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group, MCAO group, low-dose (2 μg) EGFC group, medium-dose (20 μg) EGFC group, and high-dose (200 μg) EGFC group. A rat model of MCAO was established by 2 hours of ischemia followed by reperfusion. Rats received intraperitoneal administration of EGFC at 3 hours after model establishment and were sacrificed at 24 hours. TTC staining was used to measure infarct volume. The brain water content and wet/dry ratio were determined. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to evaluate the expression levels of inflammatory factors, i.e., tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Results Compared with the MCAO group, all EGFC groups had reduced infarct volume, in which the high-dose EGFC group had significantly reduced infarct volume (P<0.01). All EGFC groups had significantly lower brain water content than the MCAO group (P<0.05). According to the ELISA results, the MCAO group and the low-dose EGFC group had significantly higher levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 than the sham group (P<0.01); the medium-and high-dose EGFC groups had significantly lower levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 than the MCAO group (P<0.05) and the low-dose EGFC group (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusions EGFC has a protective effect on the brain of MCAO rats. Within a certain range, the EGFC dose is positively correlated with the protective effect.