Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Mar 4:8:121.
doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00121. eCollection 2020.

The Role of Autophagy in Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy

Annagrazia Adornetto  1 , Vincenzo Parisi  2 , Luigi Antonio Morrone  1 , Maria Tiziana Corasaniti  3 , Giacinto Bagetta  1 , Paolo Tonin  4 , Rossella Russo  1
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Autophagy in Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy

Annagrazia Adornetto et al. Front Cell Dev Biol. .

Abstract

Autophagy is a conserved lysosomal-dependent pathway responsible for the degradation of cytoplasmic macromolecules. Based on the mechanism of cargo delivery to lysosomes, mammalian cells can undergo micro, macro, and chaperone-mediated autophagy. Other than physiological turnover of proteins and organelles, autophagy regulates cellular adaptation to different metabolic states and stressful conditions by allowing cellular survival or, when overactivated, participating to cell death. Due to their structure and function, neurons are highly dependent on autophagy efficiency and dysfunction of the pathway has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Glaucomatous optic neuropathies, a leading cause of blindness, are characterized by the progressive loss of a selective population of retinal neurons, i.e., the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Here we review the current literature on the role of autophagy in the pathogenic process that leads to the degeneration of RGC in various experimental models of glaucoma exploring the modulation of the pathway as a potential therapeutic intervention.

Keywords: CMA; LC3; autophagy; glaucoma; mitophagy; p62; retina; retinal ganglion cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Element of the visual pathway. (Optic nerve Head, ONH; Lateral Geniculate Nucleus, LGN).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Almasieh M., Wilson A. M., Morquette B., Cueva Vargas J. L., Di Polo A. (2012). The molecular basis of retinal ganglion cell death in glaucoma. Prog. Retin. Eye Res. 31 152–181. 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2011.11.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen G., Tang L., Wei W., Li Z., Li Y., Duan X., et al. (2016). mTOR regulates neuroprotective effect of immunized CD4+Foxp3+ T cells in optic nerve ischemia. Sci. Rep. 6:37805. 10.1038/srep37805 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cianfanelli V., D’orazio M., Cecconi F. (2015). AMBRA1 and BECLIN 1 interplay in the crosstalk between autophagy and cell proliferation. Cell Cycle 14 959–963. 10.1080/15384101.2015.1021526 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Coughlin L., Morrison R. S., Horner P. J., Inman D. M. (2015). Mitochondrial morphology differences and mitophagy deficit in murine glaucomatous optic nerve. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 56 1437–1446. 10.1167/iovs.14-16126 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cuervo A. M., Dice J. F. (2000). Unique properties of lamp2a compared to other lamp2 isoforms. J. Cell Sci. 113(Pt 24), 4441–4450. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources