TABLE 2.

Summary of effects of natural alkaloids on different AS models.

Active ingredients	Source	Experimental model	Dose/concentration	Efficiency	Molecular targets	Signaling pathway	References
Berberine	Coptis chinensis Franch.	HFD fed 8-week-old male ApoE−/− mice	78,117,156 mg/kg	Regulate blood lipid; Induce autophagy	Beclin-1↓ p62↓	PI3K/AKT/mTOR	Song and Chen, (2021)
					p-PI3K↑
					p-mTOR↑
					p-AKT↓
Berberine	//	Murine cell line J774A incubated with ox-LDL	25,50 μM	Induce autophagy; Reduce inflammation	LC3 II/I↑ SQSTM1/p62↓	AMPK/mTOR	Fan et al. (2015)
Berberine (sonodynamic therapy)	//	Human THP-1 monocytes	30 μg/mL	Induce autophagy; Regulate cholesterol efflux	LC3-II/I↑ p62↓	PI3K/AKT/mTOR	Kou et al. (2017)
Matrine	Sophora flavescens Aiton	AGE- induced HCSMCs	0,0.25,0.5,0.75 and 1.0mmol/L	Suppress fibrotic response	PI3K↓	PI3K/AKT/mTOR/p70S6k	Ma et al. (2019)

↑, upgrade; ↓, downgrade.