Research
Hormonal
Stimulation of autophagy improves cardiac function in aging hearts by removing accumulated misfolded proteins and dysfunctional mitochondria.
Encouraging autophagy through healthy lifestyle choices may help clear out cellular debris that contributes to heart aging. This suggests that interventions promoting cellular cleanup could be beneficial for long-term heart health.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
stimulation of autophagy generally improves cardiac function in mouse models of protein aggregation by removing accumulated misfolded proteins, dysfunctional mitochondria, and damaged DNA, thereby improving the overall cellular environment and alleviating aging-associated pathology in the heart.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple mouse models and genetic studies.
Source
Aging and Autophagy in the Heart
Akihiro Shirakabe et al. · Circulation Research · 2016
DOI 10.1161/circresaha.116.307474
narrative_reviewCited 442×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Autophagy is downregulated in the aging heart, and this suppression contributes to cardiac pathology by allowing the accumulation of misfolded proteins and dysfunctional mitochondria.Good
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