The findings of the present study showed that parental folate deficiency induced neuronal apoptosis in offspring neonatal rats, demonstrated by the down-regulated expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, the up-regulated expression of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bax and Caspase-3 of neural cells in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, and pathological changes in the ultrastructure of neuronal cell bodies in offspring. Here, BAX is linked to folate deficiency.