BACKGROUND Autophagy, an intracellular self-degradation system conserved throughout eukaryotes, plays an important role in a variety of biological processes, including cell death, development, cancer, defence against infection and neurodegeneration. However, little information about autophagy in renal tubular cells is available. We investigated the relationship of autophagy with endoplasmic ret...

Autophagy is important in cells for removing damaged organelles, such as mitochondria. Insufficient autophagy plays a critical role in tissue injury and organ dysfunction under a variety of pathological conditions. However, the role of autophagy in nonlethal traumatic cardiac damage remains unclear. The aims of the present study were to investigate whether nonlethal mechanical trauma may result...

Age-related bone loss is associated with an increased oxidative stress which is worsened by estrogen fall during menauposis. This observation has drawn attention to autophagy, a major cellular catabolic process, able to alleviate oxidative stress in osteoblasts (OB) and osteocytes (OST), two key bone cell types. Moreover, an autophagy decline can be associated with aging, suggesting that an age...

Neurite growth requires neurite extension and retraction, which are associated with protein degradation. Autophagy is a conserved bulk degradation pathway that regulates several cellular processes. However, little is known about autophagic regulation during early neurite growth. In this study, we investigated whether autophagy was involved in early neurite growth and how it regulated neurite gr...

Background and Purpose Oxidative stress insufficient autophagy activity are associated with inflammatory processes common features of many cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). We investigated if a combination natural activators could modulate oxidative stress, platelet aggregation endothelial cell survival function in response to stress. Experimental Approach Ex vivo activation, H 2 O production wer...

Introduction When we consider the important roles various parts of our cells have, it is often the classic organelles that come to mind—nuclei and DNA storage, mitochondria and energy production, endoplasmic reticulum and molecular transport, and the various others. Our recognition of their importance is not misplaced in the least, for without these structures our cells would cease to function....

Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved catabolic process activated in response to a variety of cellular stresses, for example nutrient deprivation or chemotherapy. During autophagy, cells engulf parts of their cytplasm in a double-membrane vesicle, where misfolded proteins or damaged organelles are degraded. A plethora of human diseases has been linked to autophagy, including cancer and neurode...

Proteoglycan degradation contributing to the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is induced by inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor‑α (TNF‑α) and interleukin‑1β (IL‑1β). Cell autophagy exists in degenerative diseases, including osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration. However, the autophagy induced by TNF‑α and IL‑1β and the corresponding molecula...

Aminoglycosides are toxic to sensory hair cells (HCs). Macroautophagy/autophagy is an essential and highly conserved self-digestion pathway that plays important roles in the maintenance of cellular function and viability under stress. However, the role of autophagy in aminoglycoside-induced HC injury is unknown. Here, we first found that autophagy activity was significantly increased, including...

The interplay between autophagy and intracellular pathogens is intricate as autophagy is an essential cellular response to fight against infections, whereas numerous microbes have developed strategies to escape this process or even exploit it to their own benefit. The fine tuned timing and/or selective molecular pathways involved in the induction of autophagy upon infections could be the corner...