Regulation of autophagy in health and disease

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Official URL: http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319139388

Macroautophagy (autopagy herein) is a cellular stress mechanism characterized by the engulfment of portions of cytoplasm, proteins and organelles in double or multimembrane vesicles. Cargo carried in these autophagic vesicles are then delivered and subsequently degraded by lysosomal/vacuolar systems. Autophagy occurs at low basal levels in all cell types (from yeast to mammals) under non-deprived conditions, performing homeostatic functions. Under conditions leading to cellular stress such as nutrient or growth factor deprivation, autophagy is activated to provide the cell with intracellular building blocks and substrates for energy generation. In addition to the ubiquitin-proteasome system, autophagy is a major degradation pathway for misfolded, mutant or abnormal proteins. Deregulations and abnormalities of autophagy are deleterious for all cell types including neurons. Consequently, autophagy abnormalities are observed in various neuronal diseases. Here, we summarize the basic autophagy machinery and its regulation, and provide a brief summary of the role of autophagy in healthy neurons and in major neurodegenerative diseases.