CASP3 and diabetes mellitus: DM causes early ultrastructural changes, such as mesangial and endothelial cell proliferation, GBM thickening, and erasure of pedicels [33], as well as late ultrastructural changes, such as apoptosis of renal cells through increased expression of proapoptotic proteins Bim and Bax, and consequent increase in the activation of caspase-3 [34].