A H&E staining of liver tissues from two groups, including CD-fed mice and ethanol-fed mice (n = 6). Scale bar, 50 μM, magnification, 200×; Magnified pictures, scale bar, 20 μM. B Oil red O staining of liver tissues from the two groups, The pictures are sorted the same as the H&E staining in Fig. 1A (n = 6). Scale bar, 50 μM, magnification, 200×; Magnified pictures, scale bar, 20 μM. C Representative images of liver tissue captured by transmission electron microscopy (n = 6). Autophagosomes are marked by red arrows. Mi is the abbreviation for mitochondria. LD is the abbreviation of lipid droplet. Scale bar, 2 μM, magnification, 1000×; scale bar, 500 nM, magnification, 2500×. D Immunoblot of liver tissue lysates from the CD-fed group and ethanol-treated group (n = 6). Quantification of the ratios of LC3II/LC3I and p62/β-actin. E The time, dosage and form of rapamycin administration by adopting the Gao-Binge protocol to establish an animal model in C57BL/6 mice. (6–8 mice per group). F H&E staining of liver tissues from two groups, including saline-treated mice and rapamycin-treated mice (n = 6). Scale bar, 50 μM, magnification, 200×; Magnified pictures, scale bar, 20 μM. G Oil red O staining of liver tissues from the two groups. The pictures are sorted the same as the H&E staining in Fig. 1F (n = 6). Scale bar, 50 μM, magnification, 200×; Magnified pictures, scale bar, 20 μM. H Representative image of liver tissue captured by transmission electron microscopy (n = 6). Autophagosomes are marked by red arrows. Mi is the abbreviation of mitochondria. LD is the abbreviation for lipid droplets. Scale bar, 2 μM, magnification, 1000×; scale bar, 500 nM, magnification, 2500×. I Immunoblot of liver tissue lysates from the saline-treated group and rapamycin-treated group (n = 6). Quantification of the ratios of LC3II/LC3I and p62/β-actin. Data represent the mean ± SEM of six biological replicates per condition. Each dot represents a mouse. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. NS indicates no significance (two-tailed t-tests).