Lipophagy: Connecting Autophagy and Lipid Metabolism

Figure 2

Autophagy and lipid metabolism in liver. (a) Basal lipophagy: some level of mobilization of LD by autophagy occurs continuously in all tissues including the liver. (b) Inducible lipophagy: stimuli such as prolonged starvation or maintained lipid challenges induce liver lipophagy to regulate LD growth. Failure to upregulate autophagy under these conditions could results in liver steatosis. (c) Lipogenesis/lipolysis balance: autophagy may also contribute to LD formation by mechanisms still unknown. A partial blockage of the autophagic process may modify the lipogenic-lipolytic balance in one direction or another depending on the cellular conditions.