BAX and atrial fibrillation: The results showed that compared with the control AF cells, high glucose culture significantly increased cell apoptosis ratio and caspase-3/9 activity, up-regulated mRNA/protein expression of bax, caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP, and down-regulated mRNA expression of bcl-2, indicating that a high glucose culture promotes disc AF cell apoptosis.