The Role of Autophagy in the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Nephropathy

Figure 1

Steps of the autophagic pathways. Five steps in the autophagic pathways have been identified: (1) initiation, isolated membrane appears in cytosol; (2) elongation, elongation is characterized by membrane bending and an increase in the size of the phagophore; (3) closure, the autophagosome membrane wraps around the cytosolic components; (4) fusion, the fusion of the autophagosome with a lysosome to form an autolysosome; and (5) breakdown, the autolysosome is degradated by lysosomal hydrolases.