Silencing of Id2 attenuates hypoxia/ischemia-induced neuronal injury via inhibition of neuronal apoptosis

•Knockdown of Id2 attenuated H/I-induced neuronal apoptosis.•Overexpression of Id2 increased H/I-induced neuronal apoptosis.•Silencing of Id2 attenuated H/I induced neuronal injury in a rat model of MCAO.•Id2 modulating neuronal apoptosis might involve an interaction with Rb and E2F1.•Id2 knockdown could induce G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in CoCl2-treated B35 cells.