Dysregulation of autophagy and mitochondrial function in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Increasing evidence supports that dysregulation of autophagy and mitochondrial function are closely related with PD pathogenesis. In this review, we briefly summarized autophagy pathway, which consists of macroautophagy, microautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). Then, we discussed the involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction in PD pathogenesis. We specifically reviewed the recent developments in the relationship among several PD related genes, autophagy and mitochondrial dysfunction, followed by the therapeutic implications of these pathways. In conclusion, we propose that autophagy activity and mitochondrial homeostasis are of high importance in the pathogenesis of PD. Better understanding of these pathways can shed light on the novel therapeutic methods for PD prevention and amelioration.