The Role of Autophagy in Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion

Autophagy is a process in which lysosome-mediated intracellular damage or aging organelles and proteins are degraded to produce amino acids, fatty acids, ATP, etc., and then reused by cells. Under normal physiological conditions, cardiomyocytes maintain low levels of autophagy. However, autophagy is activated during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R), and autophagosomes increase significantly, indicating that autophagy plays an important role in myocardial ischemia-reper fusion injury (MI/RI). Studies have shown that autophagy has protective and detrimental effects on MI/RI and is regulated by a variety of factors. This article reviews the relationship between autophagy and MI/RI.