The role of autophagic degradation in the heart.

Autophagy has evolved as a conserved process for bulk degradation and recycling of cytoplasmic components, such as long-lived proteins and organelles. Macroautophagy is the most prevalent form and thus referred to as autophagy. Autophagy is initially considered to be a non-selective process as an adaptive response to nutrient starvation. However, damaged mitochondria are selectively removed by autophagy, called mitophagy. Autophagy plays essential roles in starvation, cardiac remodeling, reverse remodeling, aging and inflammation to maintain cellular homeostasis in the heart. This review discusses some recent advances in understanding the basic molecular mechanisms underlying autophagosome and autolysosome formation and mitophagy and the roles of autophagy in cardiomyopathy. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Mitochondria: From Basic Mitochondrial Biology to Cardiovascular Disease".