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Autophagy in neuronal cell loss: a road to death
Author(s) -
TakácsVellai Krisztina,
Bayci Andrew,
Vellai Tibor
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.20489
Subject(s) - autophagy , biology , drosophila melanogaster , programmed cell death , caenorhabditis elegans , microbiology and biotechnology , ageing , model organism , nervous system , neuroscience , genetics , apoptosis , gene
Abstract The regulation of ageing has been extensively studied in divergent animal model systems including worms, flies and mice. However, little is known about the cellular pathways that mediate the death of these organisms. Analysing major cellular changes in the ageing nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has revealed a gradual, progressive deterioration of different tissues except for the nervous system, which remarkably preserves its integrity even in advanced old age. In addition, genetic data have shown that, in C. elegans and in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster , lifespan is controlled by signals derived from neurons and acting throughout adulthood. Organismal death thus seems to be a consequence of the decline of specific neurons. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that late onset of neuronal cell loss generally occurs via autophagy, a process in which eukaryotic cells self‐digest parts of their contents during development or to survive starvation. Here we suggest that overactivation of autophagy in the cells of the nervous system is the eventual cause of “physiological” death. BioEssays 28: 1126–1131, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.