UCP2 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: As the mitochondria is a primary source of intracellular ROS (Hernansanz-Agustín and Enríquez, 2021), we examined the impact of T2DM on the expression of Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2), a member of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein family, which exerts antioxidant properties and downregulates oxidative stress (Jabůrek et al., 2013; Forte et al., 2021).