AKT1 and diabetes mellitus: As a main chemical component of Carthami Flos, Hydroxysafflor yellow A has been demonstrated to be able to reduce high glucose-induced pancreatic β-cells apoptosis via PI3K/AKT and JNK/c-Jun signaling pathways (Zhao et al., 2018; Lee et al., 2020a), and exerts a renal protective effect by inhibiting oxidative stress, reducing inflammatory responses, and attenuating renal cell apoptosis in rats with a HFD- and STZ-induced diabetes (Lee et al., 2020b).