BAX and ischemia: Furthermore, this study showed that compared with the ischemia/reperfusion group, Bax mRNA and protein expression decreased significantly, while Bcl-2 mRNA and protein expression increased significantly, moreover the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio decreased significantly, suggesting escitalopram may decrease ischemia/reperfusion induced apoptosis of myocardial cells in rats with a depression phenotype by upregulating Bcl-2 expression and down-regulating Bax expression.