The contribution of altered neuronal autophagy to neurodegeneration

Defects in cellular functions related to altered protein homeostasis and associated progressive accumulation of pathological intracellular material is a critical process involved in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Autophagy is an essential mechanism that ensures neuronal health by removing long-lived proteins or defective organelles and by doing so prevents cell toxicity and death within the central nervous system. Abundant evidence has shown that neuronal autophagy pathways are altered in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and traumas of the central nervous system including Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury. In this review, we aimed to summarize the latest studies on the role that altered neuronal autophagy plays in brain health and these pathological conditions, and how this knowledge can be leveraged for the development of novel therapeutics against them.