- The word ‘autophagy’ is derived from the Greek words “auto” (meaning self) and “phagy” (meaning eating).
- In a healthy human body, cells are constantly becoming damaged as a normal part of metabolic processes.
- With increasing age, stress and more free radical damage, our cells become damaged at an increased rate.
- Autophagy is a normal physiological process that helps to clear damaged cells from the body, including old cells that serve no functional purpose but still linger inside tissues and organs.
- The reason it’s so important to remove old and damaged cells is because they can trigger inflammatory pathways and contribute to various diseases.
- Very recently in animal studies, researchers have been able to observe how autophagy can promote longevity and benefit the nervous system, immune system, heart and metabolism.
- The best way to induce autophagy is through practicing fasting.
- Autophagy is believed to be a survival mechanism, or a way that the body cleverly responds to stress in order to protect itself.
Mechanism of Autophagy:
- Thanks to recent studies, we now know that autophagy is important for “cleaning up” the body and defending against the negative effects of stress.
- The exact way how autophagy processes work is just beginning to be understood.
- There are several steps involved in autophagy processes.
- Lysosomes are a part of cells that can destroy large damaged structures, like mitochondria, and then help to transport these damaged parts so they are used to generate fuel.
- To sum up a complex process: damaged material must first be transported to a lysosome, then deconstructed, then spit back out to be re purposed.
Types of Autophagy:
- There are several different types of autophagy;
- Macroautophagy: It is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic process involving the formation of vesicles (autophagosomes) that engulf cellular macromolecules and organelles.
- Microautophagy: It is the direct uptake of soluble or particulate cellular constituents into lysosomes (in mammals) and in vacuoles (in plants and yeast)
- Chaperone-mediated autophagy: It refers to the chaperone-dependent selection of soluble cytosolic proteins that are then targeted to lysosomes and directly translocated across the lysosome membrane for degradation.
- Humans are not the only species to benefit from autophagy. In fact, autophagy has been observed in yeast, mold, plants, worms, flies and mammals.
- Much of the research to date on autophagy has involved rats and yeast. At least 32 different autophagy-related genes (Atg) have been identified by genetic screening studies.
- Research continues to show that autophagic processes are very important responses to starvation and stress across many species.
Is autophagy good or bad for our health?
- It’s definitely good. We might think of autophagy as a form of “self-eating,” which might sound pretty scary but is actually our body’s normal way of carrying out cellular renewal processes.
- In fact, autophagy is so beneficial that it’s now being called a “key in preventing diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, liver disease, autoimmune diseases and infections.”
- Autophagy has many anti-aging benefits because it helps destroy and reuse damaged components occurring in vacuoles (spaces) within cells.
- In other words, the autophagy process basically works by using breakdown products formed inside cells to create new “building materials” that aid in repair and regeneration.
Benefits of Autophagy:
Research suggests that some of the most important autophagy benefits include:
- Providing cells with molecular building blocks and energy
- Recycling damaged proteins, organelles and aggregates
- Regulating functions of cells’ mitochondria for production of energy and preventing them from oxidative stress.
- Protecting the nervous system and encouraging growth of brain and nerve cells.
- Protecting against various heart diseases by supporting the growth of useful heart cells.
- Enhancing the immune system by eliminating intracellular pathogens
- Defending against misfolded, toxic proteins that contribute to abnormalities
- Protecting stability of DNA
- Preventing damage to healthy tissues and organs (known as necrosis)
- Potentially fighting cancer, neuro-degenerative disease and other illnesses