The Contribution of Astrocyte Autophagy to Systemic Metabolism

Autophagy is an essential mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis. Besides its role in controlling the quality of cytoplasmic components, it participates in nutrient obtaining and lipid mobilization under stressful conditions. Furthermore, autophagy is involved in the regulation of systemic metab...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2020-04, Vol.21 (7), p.2479
Main Authors: Ortiz-Rodriguez, Ana, Arevalo, Maria-Angeles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antioxidants
Astrocytes
Astrocytes - cytology
Astrocytes - physiology
Autophagy
Energy
Energy balance
Energy Metabolism
Fatty acids
Fatty Acids - metabolism
Food
Glucose
Homeostasis
Hormones
Humans
Hypothalamus
Hypothalamus - cytology
Hypothalamus - metabolism
Insulin
Lipids
Metabolism
Metabolites
Morphology
Nutrients
Obesity
Obesity - metabolism
Peptides
Phagocytosis
Proteins
Regulators
Review
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Summary:Autophagy is an essential mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis. Besides its role in controlling the quality of cytoplasmic components, it participates in nutrient obtaining and lipid mobilization under stressful conditions. Furthermore, autophagy is involved in the regulation of systemic metabolism as its blockade in hypothalamic neurons can affect the central regulation of metabolism and impact body energy balance. Moreover, hypothalamic autophagy can be altered during obesity, one of the main alterations of metabolism nowadays. In this review, we focus on the role of astrocytes, essential cells for brain homeostasis, which represent key metabolic regulators. Astrocytes can sense metabolic signals in the hypothalamus and modulate systemic functions as glucose homeostasis and feeding response. Moreover, the response of astrocytes to obesity has been widely studied. Astrocytes are important mediators of brain inflammation and can be affected by increased levels of saturated fatty acids associated with obesity. Although autophagy plays important roles for astrocyte homeostasis and functioning, the contribution of astrocyte autophagy to systemic metabolism has not been analyzed yet. Furthermore, how obesity can impact astrocyte autophagy is poorly understood. More studies are needed in order to understand the contribution of astrocyte autophagy to metabolism.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms21072479