AREG and myocardial ischemia: Based on the above studies showing that Areg deficiency is associated with reduced activation of the survival kinase Akt after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion, we harvested the AAR form Hif2aloxP/loxPMyosin-Cre+ and immunoblotted the isolated protein for total levels Akt and phosphorylated Akt.