It was shown that cognitive deficits in VaD rats could be improved through the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, which may be related to the increase in the level of mitophagy and the inhibition of neuronal apoptosis, which attenuated neuronal damage and mitochondrial dysfunction (Zheng et al., 2021). The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is Cognitive impairment.