HMOX1 and diabetes mellitus: Diosgenin is a steroidal saponin, obtained from the Chinese medicine yam, which is widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, tumor, and diabetes.[95–97] In addition to inhibiting mTOR, AMPK can also catalyze the phosphorylation of ser550 residues in Nrf2 protein, facilitating its nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and increasing the expression of downstream antioxidant proteins.[98] It was also found that diosgenin elements attenuated HG-induced apoptosis, inflammatory damage and oxidative stress in ARPE-19 cells through activation of AMPK/ Nrf2/HO-1 pathway.[99]