Fig. 1.

Schematic diagram of the glucocorticoids (GCs) effects on AMPK-SIRT1-PGC1α transduction pathway. GCs inhibit AMPK kinase activation by SGK1 kinase stimulation. Inhibited AMPK is involved in the HDAC5 upregulation, which suppresses the transcription of many genes including NR3C1 encoding GR, by histone deacetylation and inducing tight DNA wrapping. AMPK may be also activated by the changes in AMP/ATP or ADP/ATP ratios, in turn affecting SIRT1 and PGC1α, involved in mitochondrial functioning and biogenesis and thus cellular energy homeostasis