Further, to confirm that mitophagy is also responsible for DACD induced by T2DM, we examined the AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK, the crucial activator of PINK1/Parkin and ULK1 pathway [28–32]), PINK1/Parkin pathway (conventional mitophagy) and ULK1 (Atg1/Unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1)-dependent (PINK1/Parkin-independent) pathway to assess mitophagy [28, 29, 33]. Here, ULK1 is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.