The role of autophagy during the early neonatal starvation period

Akiko Kuma, Masahiko Hatano, Makoto Matsui, Akitsugu Yamamoto, Haruaki Nakaya, Tamotsu Yoshimori, Yoshinori Ohsumi, Takeshi Tokuhisa and Noboru Mizushima ()
Additional contact information
Akiko Kuma: Japan Science and Technology Agency
Masahiko Hatano: Chiba University
Makoto Matsui: National Institute for Basic Biology, he Graduate University for Advanced Studies
Akitsugu Yamamoto: Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology
Haruaki Nakaya: Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University
Tamotsu Yoshimori: National Institute of Genetics
Yoshinori Ohsumi: National Institute for Basic Biology, he Graduate University for Advanced Studies
Takeshi Tokuhisa: Chiba University
Noboru Mizushima: Japan Science and Technology Agency

Nature, 2004, vol. 432, issue 7020, 1032-1036

Abstract: Abstract At birth the trans-placental nutrient supply is suddenly interrupted, and neonates face severe starvation until supply can be restored through milk nutrients1. Here, we show that neonates adapt to this adverse circumstance by inducing autophagy. Autophagy is the primary means for the degradation of cytoplasmic constituents within lysosomes2,3,4. The level of autophagy in mice remains low during embryogenesis; however, autophagy is immediately upregulated in various tissues after birth and is maintained at high levels for 3–12 h before returning to basal levels within 1–2 days. Mice deficient for Atg5, which is essential for autophagosome formation, appear almost normal at birth but die within 1 day of delivery. The survival time of starved Atg5-deficient neonates (∼ 12 h) is much shorter than that of wild-type mice (∼ 21 h) but can be prolonged by forced milk feeding. Atg5-deficient neonates exhibit reduced amino acid concentrations in plasma and tissues, and display signs of energy depletion. These results suggest that the production of amino acids by autophagic degradation of ‘self’ proteins, which allows for the maintenance of energy homeostasis, is important for survival during neonatal starvation.

Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03029 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:432:y:2004:i:7020:d:10.1038_nature03029

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature03029

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().