AKT1 and diabetes mellitus: To better elucidate the interplay between these signaling cascades and mitochondrial function in diabetes and/or ALDH2-induced cardiac responses, we scrutinized apoptosis and mitochondrial integrity, including mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as cell signaling of Akt, GSK3β, mTOR and Foxo3a in wild-type FVB and ALDH2 transgenic mice with or without the induction of experimental diabetes.