Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2025

In Situ Immunofluorescent Staining of Autophagy in Muscle Stem Cells
Published on: June 12, 2017
Role of autophagy in aging: The good, the bad, and the ugly
1Frontiers in Bioscience Research Institute in Aging and Cancer, Irvine, California, USA.
Abstract:
Autophagy (self-eating) is a conserved catabolic homeostatic process required for cellular metabolic demands by removal of the damaged molecules and organelles and for alleviation of stress initiated by pathology and infection. By such actions, autophagy is essential for the prevention of aging, disease, and cancer. Genetic defects of autophagy genes lead to a host of developmental, metabolic, and pathological aberrations. Similarly, the age-induced decline in autophagy leads to the loss of cellular homeostatic control. Paradoxically, such a valuable mechanism is hijacked by diseases, during tumor progression and by senescence, presumably due to high levels of metabolic demand. Here, we review both the role of autophagy in preventing cellular decline in aging by fulfillment of cellular bioenergetic demands and its contribution to the maintenance of the senescent state and SASP by acting on energy and nutritional sensors and diverse signaling pathways.
Related Concept Videos
Autophagy
An autophagic pathway consists of a series of signaling events activated in response to diverse stress and physiological conditions such as food deprivation,...
Delivery Pathways to the Lysosome
Endocytosis
In endocytosis, the cell membrane takes up macromolecules and particles from the surrounding medium. Clathrin-mediated...
Autophagic Cell Death
Autophagy and Apoptosis
Autophagy can activate apoptosis. In normal conditions, the autophagy activating protein Beclin-1 and...
Mitochondria
Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...

