Observe the effect of naringenin on autophagy of THP-1 foam cells to explore its potential mechanism for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis.First of all,CCK8 experiment was used to test the effect of naringenin on cell viability at different concentrations.In the next steps,different concentrations of naringenin (0,10,25,50,100 μmol/L) were applied to foam cells,and Western blot was used to detect the expression of LC3,p62 and the content of total cholesterol in foam cells.Naringenin,rapamycin and 3MA were applied to foam cells respectively to analyze the protein expression levels of LC3 and p62 later.Ox-LDL,naringenin and compound C were applied to macrophages respectively to analyze the protein expression levels of LC3,p-AMPK,AMPK and the content of total cholesterol finally.The results showed as follows:Naringenin had no toxic effect on foam cells activity (P>0.05);Compared the naringenin group with the model group,the ratio of LC3II/LC3I was increased(P<0.05),and the expression of P62 was reduced (P<0.05),the content of total cholesterol was reduced otherwise(P<0.05);Compared the naringenin group with the model group,the ratio of LC3II/LC3I and the ratio of p-AMPK/AMPK were increased(P<0.05),and the content of total cholesterol was reduced(P<0.05).Naringenin could up-regulate the autophagy ability of foam cells,and reduce the content of total cholesterol in the cells to inhibit the formation of foam cells.Naringenin promoted the autophagy ability of foam cells by increasing the level of AMPK phosphorylation,which might be one of the molecular mechanisms of naringenin in preventing and treating atherosclerosis.