Lack of autophagy can easily cause neurodegenerative diseases

The brain and spinal cord are composed of neuronal cells. These neuronal cells have a special structure that can quickly and accurately send messages to other cells through electrochemical signals to control various biological functions, such as regulating autonomy and non-autonomy Movement, processing of external information, coordination of various tissues and organs, and decision making, etc. Generally speaking, neuronal cells have poor regenerative ability. Once they are damaged and die, they will cause irreversible loss of nerve function, which will lead to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s dance Disease and so on.

Exploring the relationship between autophagy and neurodegenerative diseases is based on experiments in mice. Researchers have found that when neuronal cells lack autophagy, mice will have defects in motor function, such as abnormal limb clasping, reflexes, and Reduction of coordinated movement, etc.

In addition, in these nerve cells lacking autophagy, there are many proteins that cannot be eliminated, which can poison the nerve cells and even lead to death, such as the above-mentioned amyloid beta in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The alpha-synuclein protein in the disease and the polyglutamate-containing protein in Huntington’s disease. These toxic proteins cannot be removed smoothly, which may be due to a problem with the autophagy regulation mechanism in the nerve cells of the patient.