CASP3 and congestive heart failure: Additionally, we have discovered that Cleaved caspase-3 and Bax expression levels were elevated and Bcl-2 expression level was declined in CHF rats, just as the previous research about that increased caspase-3 expression level, high Bax expression level and low Bcl-2 expression level were found in myocardial apoptosis cells along with pressure overload rat [34].