BAX and Alzheimer disease: Furthermore, we also analyzed the mRNA expression of caspase-3 in the neuronal tissues of rats and the protein expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 in PC12 cells, our results show that Aβ25–35 significantly increased the expression of caspase-3 in the brain tissues of the AD rats compared to that of the control rats, while LSS significantly reduced the expressions of caspase-3 mRNA and Bax protein, meantime, increased the protein expression of Bcl-2 and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax.