HN-00160210_Fasting or Calorie Restriction Dramatically Increase Autophagy and Mitophagy: A Comprehensive Review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies

Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation process and protective housekeeping mechanism to eliminate damaged organelles, long-lived misfolded proteins andinvading pathogens. Autophagy functions to recycle building blocks and energy for cellular renovation and homeostasis, allowing cells to adapt to stress. Mitophagy or mitochondrial autophagy is the selective degradation of mitochondria by autophagy. Mitophagy is keyin quality control of mitochondria and keeping the cell healthy. Modulation of autophagy and mitophagy is a potential therapeutic target for a diverse range of diseases, including metabolic conditions, neurodegenerative diseases, cancers andinfectious diseases. Conventionally, food deprivation and calorie restriction (CR) have been considered to slow aging andincrease longevity. Since autophagy or mitophagy inhibition attenuates the anti-aging effects of CR, it has been proposed that autophagy plays a substantive role in CR-mediated longevity. Among several stress stimuli inducers of autophagy, fasting and CR are the most potent non-genetic autophagy stimulators, and lack the undesirable side effects associated with alternative interventions. Generally, based on the current review, both fasting and CR have a role in the upregulation of both autophagy and mitophagy, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that both fasting and CR have a salient role in upregulation of autophagy and mitophagy markers and autophagy activation. Modulated autophagy and mitophagy can be achieved by both fasting and CR, and plays a crucial role in normal function and hemostasis of cells, leading to an improvement in the health and function of various organs and tissues.

Keywords:

autophagy , mitophagy , Fasting , Calorie restriction