Chinese Herbal Medicine in Ameliorating Diabetic Kidney Disease via Activating Autophagy

Figure 1

Three types of autophagy. (a) Macroautophagy is characterized by the appearance of the double membrane-bound vesicles called autophagosome, which aids in the transport of cytoplasmic constituents and organelles, and finally degrading the entrapped cytosolic components by fusing with lysosome. (b) Chaperone-mediated autophagy entails selective translocation of target proteins across the lysosome membrane into the lysosome lumen via a process requiring chaperone. Cytosolic proteins carrying the KFERQ-like pentapeptide motif are recognized by chaperone heat shock cognate 70 kDa protein (HSC70) and subsequent associate with the lysosome-associated membrane protein 2A (LAMP2A), facilitating its translocation. (c) Microautophagy, a poorly understood process, involves the direct engulfment of cytosolic contents with the lysosome membrane.