Recent advances in autophagy-based neuroprotection

Abstract

Macroautophagy is a highly regulated intracellular process that, under certain circumstances, delivers cytoplasmic components to the lysosomes for degradation. It consists of several sequential steps including initiation and nucleation, double membrane formation and elongation, formation and maturation of autophagosomes and finally autophagosomes/lysosomes fusion and degradation of intra-autophagosomal contents by lysosomal enzymes. After decades of considering autophagy as a cell death pathway, it has recently been shown to have a survival function through clearing of protein aggregates and damaged cytoplasmic organelles in response to a variety of stress conditions. Most recently, there is increasing evidence from literature revealing that autophagy induction may combat neurodegeneration. In the light of this, our current review tried to address the recent advances in the role of induced autophagy in neuroprotection with a particular focus on its contribution in the most common neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s; Huntington’s; Parkinson’s; autophagosomes; autophagy; lysosomes; neurodegeneration; neuroprotection; rapamycin.