BAX and Alzheimer disease: Notably, we observed a marked increase in the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2 in the GPR43-OE group (0.79 ± 0.03) relative to AD controls (0.45 ± 0.05; p < 0.05; Fig. 6C), accompanied by a concurrent decrease in the pro-apoptotic protein BAX (GPR43-OE:1.84 ± 0.19 vs. AD:3.31 ± 0.57; p < 0.05; Fig. 6D).