Crosstalk between Autophagy and Obesity: Potential Use of Avian Model

Abstract

Autophagy, a self-eating mechanism for recycling cellular constituents, is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and its malfunction is associated with diverse diseases including neurodegeneration, cancer, immunity and metabolic syndrome. Human Obesity is a devastating multifactorial disease with continuous increasing prevalence and, thus, there is a need for more extensive research using several experimental models to understand its underlying molecular mechanisms. Emerging evidence indicates a key role of autophagy in the development of obesity and has been a focus of research interest in recent years. This review will briefly describe the autophagy processes and provide insight into metabolic characteristics of avian species that make birds a model of choice for investigation of autophagy particularly with respect to obesity.