Obstet Gynecol Sci.  2017 May;60(3):241-259. 10.5468/ogs.2017.60.3.241.

Autophagy in the placenta

• Oh SY
• Roh CR

• KMID: 2378586
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5468/ogs.2017.60.3.241

Abstract

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catalytic process by which cytoplasmic components including damaged macromolecules and organelles are degraded. The role of autophagy includes adaptive responses to nutrition deprivation or intracellular stimuli. Although autophagosomes were first observed in early 1960s, it was 1990s that autophagy-related genes in yeast were identified and studied. Nowadays, the molecular machinery of autophagy and signaling pathway to various stimuli are almost outlined. Dysregulation of autophagic activity has been implicated in many human diseases including neurodegenerative diseases, infection and inflammation, and malignancies. However, since current understanding of autophagy in placenta is just at the beginning, this paper aims to provide general information on autophagy (part I) and to summarize articles on autophagy in human placenta (part II). This review article will serve as a basis for further researches on autophagy in relation to human pregnancy and its complications.

Keyword

Autophagy; Placenta; Trophoblasts

MeSH Terms

Autophagy*
Cytoplasm
Humans
Inflammation
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Organelles
Placenta*
Pregnancy
Trophoblasts
Yeasts

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Steps in autophagy process. Autophagy begins with the formation of an isolation membrane (phagophore), which elongates into an autophagosome. The mature autophagosome engulfs intracellular cargo such as mitochondria, protein aggregate, and lipid droplet and also microorganisms invaded to the host cells. The mature autophagosome fused with lysosome and formed into autophagolysosome, where autophagolysosomal cargos are degraded by lysosomal protease.

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