RHOA and ischemia: The area at risk (AAR) was not different between AAV9-GFP and AAV9-RhoA injected mice subjected to LAD ligation, indicating that the area of myocardium subjected to ischemia was similar in both groups; however, infarct size per AAR was significantly reduced in the heart expressing RhoA (Fig. 4F), implicating a cardioprotective role for RhoA.