Autophagy in stem cell maintenance and differentiation
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Updated: May 27, 2026

In Situ Immunofluorescent Staining of Autophagy in Muscle Stem Cells
Published on: June 12, 2017
Alexandre Teixeira Vessoni1, Alysson Renato Muotri, Oswaldo Keith Okamoto
1Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. alexandre.vessoni@usp.br
Abstract:
Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent degradation pathway that allows cells to recycle damaged or superfluous cytoplasmic content, such as proteins, organelles, and lipids. As a consequence of autophagy, the cells generate metabolic precursors for macromolecular biosynthesis or ATP generation. Deficiencies in this pathway were associated to several pathological conditions, such as neurodegenerative and cardiac diseases, cancer, and aging. The aim of this review is to summarize recent discoveries showing that autophagy also plays a critical role in stem cell maintenance and in a variety of cell differentiation processes. We also discuss a possible role for autophagy during cellular reprogramming and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell generation by taking advantage of ATP generation for chromatin remodeling enzyme activity and mitophagy. Finally, the significance of autophagy modulation is discussed in terms of augmenting efficiency of iPS cell generation and differentiation processes.
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