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Autophagy in Neurons
Open accessAbstract
Autophagy is the major cellular pathway to degrade dysfunctional organelles and protein aggregates. Autophagy is particularly important in neurons, which are terminally differentiated cells that must last the lifetime of the organism. There are both constitutive and stress-induced pathways for autophagy in neurons, which catalyze the turnover of aged or damaged mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, other cellular organelles, and aggregated proteins. These pathways are required in neurodevelopment as well as in the maintenance of neuronal homeostasis. Here we review the core components of the pathway for autophagosome biogenesis, as well as the cell biology of bulk and selective autophagy in neurons. Finally, we discuss the role of autophagy in neuronal development, homeostasis, and aging and the links between deficits in autophagy and neurodegeneration.
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“Reducing tau acetylation restores its degradation through CMA (Figure 5).90,147”
From The lysosome and proteostatic stress at the intersection of pediatric neurological disorders and adult neurodegenerative diseases (2025) · cites this paper as [147]
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“Tau acetylation contributes to tau pathology via multiple potential mechanisms: promoting tau fibrillation146 and impairing tau clearance through CMA both by reducing entry into the lysosome and proteolysis by the lysosome.147”
From The lysosome and proteostatic stress at the intersection of pediatric neurological disorders and adult neurodegenerative diseases (2025) · cites this paper as [147]
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1 retracted
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“The importance of more fully understanding mitochondrial quality control is emphasized by the observation that both PINK1 and Parkin knockout mice are susceptible to stress, and that this in turn leads to inflammation (Sliter et al. 2018).”
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“The best characterized autophagy receptor known to function in aggrephagy is p62/ SQSTM1 (Bjørkøy et al. 2005, Komatsu et al. 2007a, Pankiv et al. 2007).”
BackgroundParkin is recruited selectively to impaired mitochondria and promotes their autophagy
Narendra, D., Tanaka, A., Suen, D.-F., & Youle, R. J. (2008) · The Journal of Cell Biology · doi:10.1083/jcb.200809125 · Cited by 4,026 · cited 1×
“Work has shown that PINK1 is a mitochondrially-targeted kinase involved in the recruitment of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin to impaired mitochondria (Narendra et al. 2008, 2010a).”
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“While many questions remain, the importance of autophagy in neurons is clear, as the neuron-specific ablation of autophagy leads to neurodegeneration (Hara et al. 2006, Komatsu et al. 2006).”
BackgroundLoss of autophagy in the central nervous system causes neurodegeneration in mice
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“While many questions remain, the importance of autophagy in neurons is clear, as the neuron-specific ablation of autophagy leads to neurodegeneration (Hara et al. 2006, Komatsu et al. 2006).”
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“Depletion of a single receptor such as OPTN may induce a delay in mitochondrial engulfment (Moore & Holzbaur 2016) but does not block mitophagy completely (Lazarou et al. 2015), indicating some redundancy in the system.”
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“Elongation of the autophagosome membrane is mediated by the aptly named elongation complex, composed of two ubiquitin-like conjugation complexes (Ichimura et al. 2000, Mizushima et al. 1998).”
BackgroundHomeostatic levels of p62 control cytoplasmic inclusion body formation in autophagy-deficient mice.
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“Likewise, conditionally knocking out Atg7 in Purkinje cells using the Pcp2 promoter in mice did not appear to affect dendrites, but did lead to neuronal and axonal dystrophy, degeneration of axon terminals, and eventual neuronal death (Komatsu et al. 2007b).”
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Self-citationCellular rejuvenation: molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic interventions for diseases
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Rocchi, A., Carminati, E., Fusco, A. D., Kowalska, J. A., Floß, T., & Benfenati, F. (2021) · Aging Cell · doi:10.1111/acel.13471 · Cited by 42
The axonal endolysosomal and autophagic systems
Kuijpers, M., Tehran, D. A., Haucke, V., & Soykan, T. (2020) · Journal of Neurochemistry · doi:10.1111/jnc.15287 · Cited by 38
“…recruitment of downstream components such as Atg5, a core component of the Atg12-Atg5:Atg16L ligase complex that conjugates LC3- and LC3-related proteins to phosphatidylethanolamine to promote phagophore elongation and autophagosome assembly (Maday & Holzbaur, 2014; Stavoe & Holzbaur, 2019).”
BackgroundCombinatorial selective ER-phagy remodels the ER during neurogenesis
Hoyer, M. J., Smith, I. R., Paoli, J. C., Jiang, Y.-Z., Paulo, J. A., & Harper, J. W. (2023) · bioRxiv · doi:10.1101/2023.06.26.546565 · Cited by 31
Common Principles and Specific Mechanisms of Mitophagy from Yeast to Humans
Kumar, R., & Reichert, A. S. (2021) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms22094363 · Cited by 33
“p62 (SQSTM1), the best-characterized and the first identified autophagy cargo receptor, has both a ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domain to interact with ubiquitinated protein substrates and an LIR motif for binding to LC3/GABARAP-positive autophagosomes [89].”
BackgroundThe HERC proteins and the nervous system
Pérez-Villegas, E. M., Ruiz, R., Bachiller, S., Ventura, F., Armengol, J. A., & Rosa, J. L. (2021) · Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.11.017 · Cited by 32
Das, S., Murumulla, L., Ghosh, P., & Challa, S. (2025) · BioMetals · doi:10.1007/s10534-025-00665-x · Cited by 30
“Since neurons are long-lived and do not divide, effective waste clearance through autophagy is critical for their proper function and survival (Stavoe and Holzbaur 2019).”
ATG9 resides on a unique population of small vesicles in presynaptic nerve terminals
Binotti, B., Ninov, M., Cepeda, A. P., Ganzella, M., Matti, U., Riedel, D., Urlaub, H., Sambandan, S., & Jahn, R. (2023) · Autophagy · doi:10.1080/15548627.2023.2274204 · Cited by 32
Potential benefits of medium chain fatty acids in aging and neurodegenerative disease
Dunn, E., Zhang, B., Sahota, V. K., & Augustin, H. (2023) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2023.1230467 · Cited by 38
“In addition, MCFAs have been shown to improve mitochondrial function and promote autophagy, both of which are known to be dysregulated in aging and NDs (Rangaraju et al., 2019; Stavoe and Holzbaur, 2019).”
BackgroundLost in traffic: consequences of altered palmitoylation in neurodegeneration
Ramzan, F., Abrar, F., Mishra, G. G., Liao, L. M. Q., & Martin, D. D. O. (2023) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1166125 · Cited by 43
“Since neurons are terminally differentiated postmitotic cells that cannot replenish via cell division, autophagy plays an integral role in ensuring the removal of toxic cargo to maintain cellular homeostasis (reviewed in (Kulkarni and Maday, 2018; Stavoe and Holzbaur, 2019)).”
BackgroundDiab, R., Pilotto, F., & Saxena, S. (2023) · Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fncel.2023.1086895 · Cited by 35
“Frequently, loss of function mutations are coupled with gain of toxic function of the genes that promote toxic protein aggregation, thereby contributing to the disruption of physiological cellular function and leading to neuronal death (Stavoe and Holzbaur, 2019; Monaco and Fraldi, 2020).”
BackgroundThe Potential Role of Voltage‐Dependent Anion Channel in the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
He, Y., Wang, W., Yang, T., Thomas, E. R., Dai, R., & Li, X. (2022) · Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity · doi:10.1155/2022/4665530 · Cited by 31
“Mitochondria participate in many biological cell processes such as apoptosis [33], autophagy [34], ferroptosis [32], pyroptosis [35], and cellular senescence [36].”
Current Knowledge of Endolysosomal and Autophagy Defects in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
Marchesi, L. T., Leblanc, M., & Stévanin, G. (2021) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells10071678 · Cited by 36
Emerging roles of ATG9/ATG9A in autophagy: implications for cell and neurobiology
Choi, J., Jang, H., Xuan, Z., & Park, D. (2024) · Autophagy · doi:10.1080/15548627.2024.2384349 · Cited by 28
Neuronal endoplasmic reticulum architecture and roles in axonal physiology
Yperman, K., & Kuijpers, M. (2023) · Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.mcn.2023.103822 · Cited by 30
Dopaminergic Axons: Key Recitalists in Parkinson’s Disease
Mishra, A. K., & Dixit, A. (2021) · Neurochemical Research · doi:10.1007/s11064-021-03464-1 · Cited by 37
Pentraxin 3 Promotes Glioblastoma Progression by Negative Regulating Cells Autophagy
Wang, Z., Wang, X., Zhang, N., Zhang, H., Dai, Z., Zhang, M., Feng, S., & Cheng, Q. (2020) · Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · doi:10.3389/fcell.2020.00795 · Cited by 28
“Cells autophagy is a programmed cell death and act as a response to unfavorable factors like hypoxia and nutrient deficiency (Stavoe and Holzbaur, 2019).”
BackgroundZhang, Q.-X., Xiang, S., Chen, X., Rong, Y., Huang, L., Chen, Z.-Q., Yao, K., Chen, W., Deng, C.-H., & Wang, J.-M. (2024) · International Immunopharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.intimp.2024.112545 · Cited by 27
Cason, S. E., Mogre, S. S., Holzbaur, E. L. F., & Koslover, E. F. (2022) · Molecular Biology of the Cell · doi:10.1091/mbc.e22-03-0111 · Cited by 33
“the axon, up to 1 m in humans, to recycle their cargo (Maday and Holzbaur, 2014; Stavoe and Holzbaur, 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationLiu, P.-F., Zhao, S., Qiao, H., Li, T.-Z., Mi, W., Xu, Z.-P., & Xue, X. (2022) · Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica · doi:10.3724/abbs.2022067 · Cited by 27
“When autophagy function is impaired, the clearing ability decreases, leading to cognitive dysfunction [67].”
BackgroundAutophagy in Rare (NonLysosomal) Neurodegenerative Diseases
Zatyka, M., Sarkar, S., & Barrett, T. G. (2020) · Journal of Molecular Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2020.02.012 · Cited by 30
“Autophagy is also an important regulator of neurodevelopment by negatively regulating axon outgrowth and positively regulating synaptic formation [33,34].”
Zapata‐Muñoz, J., Villarejo‐Zori, B., Largo‐Barrientos, P., & Boya, P. (2021) · Cell Stress · doi:10.15698/cst2021.07.253 · Cited by 33
Fu, S., Sun, H., Wang, J., Gao, S., Zhu, L., Cui, K., Liu, S., Qi, X., Guan, R.-Q., Fan, X., et al. (2024) · Autophagy · doi:10.1080/15548627.2024.2330038 · Cited by 25
Ran, L.-Y., Xiang, J., Zeng, X.-X., He, W., Dong, Y.-T., Yu, W.-F., Qi, X.-L., Xiao, Y., Cao, K., Zou, J., et al. (2023) · CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics · doi:10.1111/cns.14090 · Cited by 25
Programmed cell death in cerebellar Purkinje neurons
Erekat, N. S. (2022) · Journal of Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.31083/j.jin2101030 · Cited by 30
“Autophagy occurs in neurons in physiological processes, such as regulation of metabolism through removal of particular enzymes, morphogenesis, and tissue remodeling due to differentiation [54, 55].”
BackgroundJindal, A., & Nand, S. (2026) · Molecular Neurobiology · doi:10.1007/s12035-026-05760-9 · Cited by 27
“Effective autophagy is essential for preserving proteostasis, regulating mitochondrial quality, and averting toxicity in neurons, which are post-mitotic, long-lived cells [8].”
MAPK Signaling in the Interplay Between Oxidative Stress and Autophagy
Desideri, E., Castelli, S., & Ciriolo, M. R. (2025) · Antioxidants · doi:10.3390/antiox14060662 · Cited by 30
Zhang, Z.-R., Guo, P.-W., Huang, S.-N., Jia, Z.-C., Chen, T.-N., Liu, X., Feng, H., & Chen, Y.-J. (2022) · Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity · doi:10.1155/2022/4177317 · Cited by 24
“As the terminally di ff erentiated cells, neurons did not divide and replicate themselves, which was the main reason a severe brain injury was often di ffi cult to recover [47].”
Axonal Organelles as Molecular Platforms for Axon Growth and Regeneration after Injury
Petrova, V., Nieuwenhuis, B., Fawcett, J. W., & Eva, R. (2021) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms22041798 · Cited by 35
“Autophagosomes participate in degradation through gathering cellular material and mitochondria then fusing with lysosomes, but are also an important part of the recycling machinery (reviewed in [184,185]).”
BackgroundZhang, X., Gong, H.-Y., Zhao, Y., Wu, Y.-J., Cheng, J., Song, Y., Wang, B.-Q., Qin, Y.-F., & Sun, M.-K. (2024) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2024.108643 · Cited by 23
Vicente, M. C., Addo-Osafo, K., & Vossel, K. A. (2024) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2024.1277613 · Cited by 25
“Another crucial role function of mTOR signaling is autophagy, the process of degrading and recycling components of dysfunctional cells and proteins (164).”
BackgroundZeng, L., He, J., Liu, C., Zhang, F., Zhang, Z., Chen, H., Wang, Q., Ding, X., & Luo, H. (2022) · Inflammation · doi:10.1007/s10753-021-01579-9 · Cited by 24
“It stabilizes the intercellular environment in most cells including neurons [29, 30].”
BackgroundAutophagy mediated targeting degradation, a promising strategy in drug development
Zhang, J., Pan, X., Ji, W., & Zhou, J. (2024) · Bioorganic Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.bioorg.2024.107466 · Cited by 28
Logistics of neuronal protein turnover: Numbers and mechanisms
Sun, C., & Schuman, E. M. (2022) · Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.mcn.2022.103793 · Cited by 26
Anastasopoulou, S., Nielsen, R. L., Als-Nielsen, B., Banerjee, J., Eriksson, M. A., Helenius, M., Heyman, M., Johannsdottir, I. M., Jónsson, Ó., Macgregor, S., et al. (2022) · Haematologica · doi:10.3324/haematol.2021.280016 · Cited by 22
Lipin1 Alleviates Autophagy Disorder in Sciatic Nerve and Improves Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
Wang, M., Xie, M., Yu, S., Shang, P. F., Zhang, C., Han, X., Fan, C., Chen, L., Zhuang, X., & Chen, S. (2021) · Molecular Neurobiology · doi:10.1007/s12035-021-02540-5 · Cited by 31
Correia, S. C., Machado, N. J., Alves, M. G., Oliveira, P. F., & Moreira, P. I. (2021) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms22010461 · Cited by 25
“Subsequently, active Parkin leads to the ubiquitination of mitochondrial proteins which serves as a distinct molecular code required for the selective recruitment of autophagy machinery and the completion of mitophagy [26,27].”
BackgroundZheng, Z., Wu, Y.-Q., Li, Z., Ye, L.-X., Lu, Q., Zhou, Y., Yuan, Y., Jiang, T., Xie, L., Liu, Y.-L., et al. (2020) · Journal of Neurochemistry · doi:10.1111/jnc.14892 · Cited by 21
Exploiting Natural Niches with Neuroprotective Properties: A Comprehensive Review
Moukham, H., Lambiase, A., Barone, G. D., Tripodi, F., & Coccetti, P. (2024) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu16091298 · Cited by 23
“Autophagy is particularly important in neurons since it is involved in neurodevelopment as well as in the maintenance of neuronal homeostasis, and basal beneficial autophagy is necessary to maintain lifespan and prolong longevity [100].”
BackgroundNeurotropic virus infection and neurodegenerative diseases: Potential roles of autophagy pathway
Zhao, Y., Xu, K., Shu, F., & Zhang, F. (2023) · CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics · doi:10.1111/cns.14548 · Cited by 22
Kaempferol improves Pb-induced cognitive impairments via inhibiting autophagy.
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The active zone protein Clarinet regulates synaptic sorting of ATG-9 and presynaptic autophagy
Zhao, X., Yang, S., Kargbo-Hill, S. E., Clark, B., Manning, L., & Colón‐Ramos, D. A. (2023) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3002030 · Cited by 26
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“While basal autophagy is essential for cellular homeostasis, its dysregulation—either deficiency or hyperactivation—can be pathogenic [25–27].”
Autophagic stress activates distinct compensatory secretory pathways in neurons
Palumbos, S. D., Popolow, J., Goldsmith, J., & Holzbaur, E. (2024) · bioRxiv · doi:10.1101/2024.11.07.621551 · Cited by 18
“Macroautophagy, hereafter referred to as autophagy, is a fundamental cellular process by which aggregated proteins and dysfunctional organelles are degraded (1).”
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Stavoe, A. K. H., & Holzbaur, E. L. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Venue
- Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2019-10-06
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 477-500
- ISSN
- 1081-0706 (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8995
- PMC
- PMC6996145
- OpenAlex
- W2963539474
- Cited by
- 328
- References
- 157
- Citations by year
- 2026: 41 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 59 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 58 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 4.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (K99NS109286, R37NS060698)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Ubiquitin and proteasome pathways
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Keywords
- autophagy, neurons, autophagosome formation, selective autophagy, bulk autophagy, mitochondrial turnover, protein aggregation, brain development, neuronal homeostasis, aging, neurodegeneration, endoplasmic reticulum, organelle degradation
- MeSH terms
- Autophagosomes, Animals, Autophagy, Axons, Dendrites, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Homeostasis, Humans, Memory, Mitochondria, Neurons, Synapses, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex, Ubiquitination, Unfolded Protein Response
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