CASP3 and Alzheimer disease: Furthermore, guanabenz has been demonstrated to alleviate oxidative stress and other alterations associated with AD, including impaired mitochondrial function (decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, cytochrome-c release, ATP reduction, and decreased complex I activity), endoplasmic reticulum stress (elevated GRP78 and GADD153, increased cleaved caspase-12), neuronal cell death (decreased Bcl-2, increased Bax, elevated cleaved caspase-3), and DNA fragmentation [159].