Female Wistar rats subjected to coronary occlusion to induce myocardial infarction or Sham operation; single LLLT application carried out 60 s and 3 days post-coronary occlusion; echocardiography performed 3 days and at 5 weeks to evaluate cardiac function; LV hemodynamic evaluation performed at baseline and on sudden afterload increases; myocardial expression of AKT1/VEGF pathway analyzed. Here, VEGFA is linked to myocardial infarction.