Roles of autophagy in brain homeostasis and disease.

Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent recycling pathway that is essential for maintaining brain homeostasis, with genetic variants in autophagy genes causing Mendelian nervous system disorders.

• Why it matters: The CNS depends on quality-control and recycling networks, yet how autophagy dysfunction contributes across neurodevelopment, neurodegeneration, and psychiatric conditions remains a key gap.
• What they did: This review synthesizes recent findings on autophagy in developing and mature neurons and glial cells, focusing on conserved pathways and their links to membrane trafficking and stress responses.
• The result: Evidence links dysfunctional autophagy to neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric disorders, supporting biomarker discovery and therapeutic strategies targeting autophagy–lysosome pathways.

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