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Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver

Aging is a natural life process which leads to a gradual decline of essential physiological processes. For the liver, it leads to alterations in histomorphology (steatosis and fibrosis) and function (protein synthesis and energy generation) and affects central hepatocellular processes (autophagy, mi...

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Autores principales: Xu, Fengming, Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael, Dirsch, Olaf, Dahmen, Uta
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7889356/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33628363
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6611126
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author Xu, Fengming
Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael
Dirsch, Olaf
Dahmen, Uta
author_facet Xu, Fengming
Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael
Dirsch, Olaf
Dahmen, Uta
author_sort Xu, Fengming
collection PubMed
description Aging is a natural life process which leads to a gradual decline of essential physiological processes. For the liver, it leads to alterations in histomorphology (steatosis and fibrosis) and function (protein synthesis and energy generation) and affects central hepatocellular processes (autophagy, mitochondrial respiration, and hepatocyte proliferation). These alterations do not only impair the metabolic capacity of the liver but also represent important factors in the pathogenesis of malignant liver disease. Autophagy is a recycling process for eukaryotic cells to degrade dysfunctional intracellular components and to reuse the basic substances. It plays a crucial role in maintaining cell homeostasis and in resisting environmental stress. Emerging evidence shows that modulating autophagy seems to be effective in improving the age-related alterations of the liver. However, autophagy is a double-edged sword for the aged liver. Upregulating autophagy alleviates hepatic steatosis and ROS-induced cellular stress and promotes hepatocyte proliferation but may aggravate hepatic fibrosis. Therefore, a well-balanced autophagy modulation strategy might be suitable to alleviate age-related liver dysfunction. Conclusion. Modulation of autophagy is a promising strategy for “rejuvenation” of the aged liver. Detailed knowledge regarding the most devastating processes in the individual patient is needed to effectively counteract aging of the liver without causing obvious harm.
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spelling pubmed-78893562021-02-23 Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver Xu, Fengming Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael Dirsch, Olaf Dahmen, Uta Oxid Med Cell Longev Review Article Aging is a natural life process which leads to a gradual decline of essential physiological processes. For the liver, it leads to alterations in histomorphology (steatosis and fibrosis) and function (protein synthesis and energy generation) and affects central hepatocellular processes (autophagy, mitochondrial respiration, and hepatocyte proliferation). These alterations do not only impair the metabolic capacity of the liver but also represent important factors in the pathogenesis of malignant liver disease. Autophagy is a recycling process for eukaryotic cells to degrade dysfunctional intracellular components and to reuse the basic substances. It plays a crucial role in maintaining cell homeostasis and in resisting environmental stress. Emerging evidence shows that modulating autophagy seems to be effective in improving the age-related alterations of the liver. However, autophagy is a double-edged sword for the aged liver. Upregulating autophagy alleviates hepatic steatosis and ROS-induced cellular stress and promotes hepatocyte proliferation but may aggravate hepatic fibrosis. Therefore, a well-balanced autophagy modulation strategy might be suitable to alleviate age-related liver dysfunction. Conclusion. Modulation of autophagy is a promising strategy for “rejuvenation” of the aged liver. Detailed knowledge regarding the most devastating processes in the individual patient is needed to effectively counteract aging of the liver without causing obvious harm. Hindawi 2021-02-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7889356/ /pubmed/33628363 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6611126 Text en Copyright © 2021 Fengming Xu et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Xu, Fengming
Tautenhahn, Hans-Michael
Dirsch, Olaf
Dahmen, Uta
Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver
title Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver
title_full Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver
title_fullStr Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver
title_full_unstemmed Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver
title_short Modulation of Autophagy: A Novel “Rejuvenation” Strategy for the Aging Liver
title_sort modulation of autophagy: a novel “rejuvenation” strategy for the aging liver
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7889356/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33628363
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6611126
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