Autophagy may have crossed your mind before, but you might not understand exactly what it entails or its function. Autophagy is your body’s way of recycling damaged cells for recycling or removal through autophagy.
An illness such as cancer develops when cell components are missing, much like an empty Amazon box sitting by the curb waiting to be picked up by city workers.
What is autophagy?
Autophagy is a natural process that enables your body to detoxify itself of older, damaged or unnecessary cells that have caused inflammation or other health conditions, including chronic ones like heart disease and diabetes. Autophagy also plays an important role in keeping you clean and healthy; autophagy plays an integral part in maintaining immune health in our bodies.
Autophagy has been shown to extend lifespan across organisms and protect against degeneration from aging in animal models. As an important process that promotes resilience within cells, autophagy offers an ideal target for the design of new strategies designed to extend healthspan and prolong lifespan.
Researchers have discovered a range of interventions are effective at increasing autophagy and prolonging lifespan in model organisms, including dietary restriction, genetic manipulations of autophagy-related genes, and certain pharmacological agents (such as rapamycin, pyrrolidine and NAD precursors) which directly interact with mTOR.
Many studies have revealed that our ability to trigger autophagy decreases with age due to reduced responsiveness to biological signals; however, it is still possible to induce autophagy with proper diet and lifestyle practices.
Autophagy can be best stimulated through intermittent fasting, specifically the 16/8 method. This involves eating during an 8 hour window each day and restricting caloric intake to just over 1000 per day.
Diet can also play an essential role in stimulating autophagy by switching your body’s metabolic fuel source over to ketones, which will promote autophagy. Consume plenty of fermented foods as these contain probiotics which help balance gut microbiome.
Final steps include getting enough restful sleep and exercise on a regular basis to promote an environment conducive to autophagy. Exposing yourself to temperature variations such as taking a cold shower followed by hot bath or sauna can also help induce light stress that triggers autophagy.
How does autophagy work?
Autophagy works by recycling and repurposing damaged components of cells that would otherwise be destroyed, acting as an essential defense mechanism against stressors such as cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease and autoimmune conditions.
Studies indicate that autophagy declines with age in multiple organisms. Mutations or knockdown of genes encoding autophagic machinery in Caenorhabditis elegans (lgg-1, unc-51, atg-2, atg-3 and atg-18), Drosophila (atg3 and atg8a) and mice (Atg5 and Atg7) shorten lifespan and healthspan significantly; accumulation of aggregation-prone proteins correlate with decreased levels of autophagic fusion as well as impaired delivery to lysosomes.
Autophagy appears to play an essential role in regulating cellular and organismal aging. Pharmacological stimulation of autophagy extends longevity and healthspan in nematodes and flies; genetic disruption of LC3 protein phosphatase that initiates autophagy accelerates cellular aging and promotes neurodegeneration in rats neurons.
Autophagy has long been recognized as an effective strategy against cell aging and is vital in maintaining genome stability, cell cycle arrest, antigen presentation and protein homeostasis. Autophagy also protects against cell death while providing resilience against oxidative stress.
However, the exact mechanisms regulating and controlling autophagy have yet to be fully explored. More research needs to be conducted into spatial and temporal regulation of autophagy with respect to ageing and disease processes.
Autophagy can be affected by many different factors, including diet, exercise, sleep and temperature. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains can promote autophagy; also getting at least 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night can increase autophagy; occasionally mild stressors or periods of fasting may increase its production as well. A cold shower followed by sauna time can be one way of stimulating autophagy.
What are the benefits of autophagy?
Autophagy is an amazing body process that helps the body rid itself of waste products, repair damaged cells and organs, slow the aging process and help prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Furthermore, cancer prevention may be achieved by breaking down cell’s mutation proteins; while inflammation reduction occurs by clearing away waste from pro-inflammatory cells.
Due to these reasons, scientists have begun exploring autophagy as a treatment option and way of prolonging healthspan. Researchers are still learning the specific mechanisms and advantages offered by this form of metabolism.
If you have been following the wellness scene for any length of time, chances are you have come across “autophagy.” But for those unfamiliar with it, this term may seem daunting and confusing. Autophagy refers to a natural process in which our bodies consume themselves to clear out damaged components and repair themselves – similar to cleaning out your closet or basement of extra clothing, remote controls and VHS tapes that have collected over time – similar to autophagy happening inside cells of our bodies when old or damaged parts need replacing or clearing away
Studies on both mice and humans have implicated impaired autophagy with accelerated aging, disease and decreased lifespan. This is because autophagy helps maintain tissue homeostasis by recycling damaged proteins and cell components; when impaired it may lead to disruptions of this process and an increase in disease risks.
Researchers are making strides towards developing autophagy-inducing dietary interventions and drugs that could extend healthy lifespan or treat age-related diseases, including fasting. Other approaches could include altering which fuel the body uses as energy and increasing exercise – though experts suggest taking an integrated approach may have the greatest impact in improving both function and longevity of our bodies.
What are the risks of autophagy?
Autophagy disruption has been associated with numerous hallmarks of aging, including accumulation of senescent cells, mitochondrial function decline over time and higher stress-granule levels. Chronic autophagy blockades may lead to DNA damage and shortening, potentially increasing cancer risks; consequently pharmacological promotion of autophagy has been proven to extend health and lifespan in mammalian models.
Restoring autophagy cannot fully reverse age-related phenotypes, as its mechanisms that control autophagy inhibition remain unknown and it remains to be seen whether their restoration will fully reverse their damage caused by disruption.
Autophagy plays an essential role in maintaining healthy metabolism and homeostasis; its inhibition can lead to the accumulation of senescent and damaged cells, potentially leading to serious health complications or malfunction.
We have demonstrated that increasing basal autophagy significantly decreases accumulations of senescent cells and restores mitochondrial function and cell viability, delaying onset of oxidative stress as well as protecting mitochondrial DNA damage, increasing resistance against it, and ultimately increasing survival of muscle cells.
Autophagy may exert its effects on these cellular processes through its role in maintaining lipid homeostasis. More specifically, its degradation of fatty acids helps maintain optimal levels of hepatic triglycerides; however, declining basal autophagy in aged mice is associated with an accumulation of hepatic lipids leading to reduced metabolic function and lifespan as a consequence.
To test whether autophagy could reverse these cellular and organismal deteriorations, we conducted experiments on R-Atg5i mice. Our results indicate that following restoration of autophagy, skeletal muscle fibre size and morphology, Tom20 positivity, satellite cell frequency all recovered significantly (Supplementary Fig 6). Kidney function appears to have recovered as well; 4-month dox-treated LT-Atg5i mice displayed sclerotic and enlarged glomeruli that weren’t present; these were absent when restored autophagy (Supplementary Fig 6).
