A decrease in VEGFR2 expression that accompanied the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential in cultured neurons or induction of apoptosis in RVLM tissue samples, along with exacerbation of these events by loss-of-function manipulation of VEGFR2, strongly suggest a protective role for VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling in experimental HE. This evidence concerns the gene KDR and hereditary elliptocytosis.