VEGFA and ischemia: The proliferation and survival of cardiomyocytes and vascular cells is regulated by various signaling pathways such as the PI3K-Akt pathway, activated following release of proteins such as VEGF, RANTES, IL-8 and SDF-1α61, demonstrating anti-apoptotic function which significantly increases during ischemia, evidenced by enhanced phosphorylation of Akt in ischemia animal models.