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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Activating Autophagy by Aerobic Exercise in Mice
Published on: February 3, 2017
Glucosamine induces autophagy via an mTOR-independent pathway
Tomoya Shintani1, Fumiyoshi Yamazaki, Toshihiko Katoh
1Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bioresponse, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
Abstract:
Autophagy is a cellular process that nonspecifically degrades cytosolic components and is involved in many cellular responses. We found that amino sugars with a free amino group such as glucosamine, galactosamine and mannosamine induced autophagy via an mTOR-independent pathway. Glucosamine-induced autophagy at concentrations of at least 500 microM to over 40 mM. In the presence of 40 mM glucosamine, autophagy induction was initiated at 6h and reached a plateau at 36 h. Glucosamine-induced autophagy could remove accumulated ubiquitin-conjugated proteins as well as 79-glutamine repeats. Therefore, orally administered glucosamine could contribute to the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases and promotion of antiaging effects.
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