Mitochondrial quality control: The role of mitophagy in aging

Autophagy is a catabolic process for eliminating macromolecules and damaged organelles by a highly regulated lysosomal pathway. Importantly, autophagy serves as an integral quality control mechanism by recycling cellular constituents for energy consumption and cellular rejuvenation under basal and stress conditions. Nevertheless, there is growing evidence that under certain conditions autophagy can switch from an adaptive survival mechanism to maladaptive process that promotes cell death. Furthermore, defects in autophagy have been linked to mitochondria injury and cell death associated with aging. In this review, we describe the role of autophagy as a physiological mechanism for maintaining homeostasis with its specific involvement in mitochondrial quality control and cardiac aging.