SIRT1 and diabetes mellitus: In vivo and vitro, puerarin protected podocytes from diabetes-induced injury through upregulated autophagy mediated by HMOX-1 and SIRT1 (Li et al., 2020b), as well as alleviated cadmium-induced cytotoxicity in primary rat proximal tubular cells by restoring autophagy, blocking lysosomal membrane permeabilization, and inhibiting the nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 pathway, which is intimately related with its antioxidant activity (Wang et al., 2019a).