BECN1 and neurodegenerative disease: Since defects in the process of an autophagy may underlie the development of neurodegenerative diseases [55], our study was performed to investigate the crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis in VMH after the treatment of metformin and PA by studying apoptosis-promoting (Bax, caspase-3), apoptosis-inhibiting (Bcl-xl) and autophagy-associated (LC3, Beclin-1) proteins in VMH of rats with T2DM and after the treatment.