Chang YF, Li JJ, Liu T, Wei CQ, Ma LW, Nikolenko VN, Chang WL. Morphological and biochemical characteristics associated with autophagy in gastrointestinal diseases. World J Gastroenterol 2024; 30(11): 1524-1532 [PMID: 38617452 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i11.1524]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Wei-Long Chang, PhD, Doctor, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1 Jianshe East Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China. changwl365@foxmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 21, 2024; 30(11): 1524-1532 Published online Mar 21, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i11.1524
Morphological and biochemical characteristics associated with autophagy in gastrointestinal diseases
Yi-Fan Chang, Jia-Jing Li, Tao Liu, Chong-Qing Wei, Li-Wei Ma, Vladimir N Nikolenko, Wei-Long Chang
Yi-Fan Chang, Tao Liu, Chong-Qing Wei, Wei-Long Chang, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Jia-Jing Li, Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Li-Wei Ma, Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
Vladimir N Nikolenko, Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow 119991, Russia
Co-first authors: Yi-Fan Chang and Jia-Jing Li.
Co-corresponding authors: Vladimir N Nikolenko and Wei-Long Chang.
Author contributions: Chang YF and Li JJ contributed equally to this work; Chang WL contributed to study conceptualization; Liu T, Wei CQ, Ma LW, and Nikolenko VN contributed to manuscript writing and editing; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported bythe National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81900533; Science and Technology Project of Henan Science and Technology Department, No. 232102520032.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei-Long Chang, PhD, Doctor, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1 Jianshe East Road, Erqi District, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China. changwl365@foxmail.com
Received: November 9, 2023 Peer-review started: November 9, 2023 First decision: December 15, 2023 Revised: January 5, 2024 Accepted: February 20, 2024 Article in press: March 21, 2024 Published online: March 21, 2024 Processing time: 133 Days and 6 Hours
Abstract
Autophagy is a cellular catabolic process characterized by the formation of double-membrane autophagosomes. Transmission electron microscopy is the most rigorous method to clearly visualize autophagic engulfment and degradation. A large number of studies have shown that autophagy is closely related to the digestion, secretion, and regeneration of gastrointestinal (GI) cells. However, the role of autophagy in GI diseases remains controversial. This article focuses on the morphological and biochemical characteristics of autophagy in GI diseases, in order to provide new ideas for their diagnosis and treatment.
Core Tip: Autophagy, from a morphological standpoint, shares similarities with other biological processes such as phagocytosis and apoptosis. As an intracellular catabolic mechanism, autophagy, along with the ubiquitin-proteasome system, contributes to maintaining cellular homeostasis. Moreover, autophagy also assumes a role in programmed cell death when apoptosis is absent. Numerous studies have established the close association between autophagy and the physiological functions of different gastrointestinal (GI) cells. Morphological investigations have furnished substantial evidence highlighting autophagy's pro-survival role in benign conditions like intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury, inflammatory bowel disease, and GI motility disorders. Further research into the involvement of autophagy in GI tumors is necessary to unravel these unresolved mysteries in the future.
