AKT1 and ischemia: For example, during ischemia, synaptic NMDA receptors activate the phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (PKB, also known as Akt) pathway and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-cAMP response element-binding protein(CREB) pathway (Hetman and Kharebava, 2006; Zhang et al., 2007; Hardingham, 2009; Zhou et al., 2013) and exerts protective function.