CASP3 and Nephropathy: The observations after nephrectomy and subsequent drug treatments suggested that increased apoptosis of central nervous system neurons may play a crucial role in elevating blood pressure in case of kidney damage, possibly by relieving the constraints on the sympathetic nervous system; upregulated AT1R, Ras, ERK1/2, and caspase-3 signaling pathways in the CNS may constitute the underlying mechanisms at the molecular level.