Under certain circumstances, autophagy constitutes a stress adaptation that suppresses apoptosis by regulating the BCl2-family proteins BAX and BAK and caspases to attenuate diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and hepatocellular carcinoma.48–50 In ALD, the activation of autophagy alleviates ethanol-induced apoptosis mediated by the AMPK/FoxO3A axis.51 In our study, the lipid accumulation and apoptosis induced by ethanol were diminished by SalA; however, SalA pretreatment was no longer protective after treatment with the autophagy inhibitor CQ (Fig. 3a and b). This evidence concerns the gene BAX and hepatocellular carcinoma.