BAX and Hyperglycemia: To verify the effect of hyperglycemia on ROS-mediated mitochondrial pathway, we focused our attention on the expression of pro- (Bax) and anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL) proteins that are involved not only in permeability of the outer mitochondrial membrane, but also, through their effectors, in the regulation of the cell cycle, DNA repair and replication (Donovan and Cotter, 2004).