PRKAA1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: To study whether capsaicin activates AMPK in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells, we incubated cells with capsaicin for 1 hour and determined AMPK phosphorylation in Thr172 which is within the catalytic subunit (alpha) of AMPK and a hallmark of AMPK activation, as well as the phosphorylation of the AMPK downstream target Acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC).