Of particular interest was the recent finding that intracellular dialysis of Ang II in myocytes isolated from the failing heart, reverses the increase of cell volume elicited by hypotonic solution [13] raising the possibility that the activation of the intracellular renin angiotensin system [11] be beneficial during myocardial ischemia by reducing cell volume. The gene discussed is AGT; the disease is myocardial ischemia.