The role of autophagy during osteoclastogenesis under microgravity conditions

Abstract

AbstractSpace represents a rather hostile environment for the human body, with the bone loss being one of the most important consequences. Autophagy is a complex cellular process contributing to several cellular processes including recycling, nutrition, apoptosis and response to stressful environments. Recent reports have indicated that autophagy is a process that increases under microgravity conditions. In particular, this was shown to be true in skeletal cells such as the osteoclasts. Suppression of autophagy results in downregulation of osteoclastogenesis, making autophagy a quite tempting therapeutic target for preventing bone loss during space flights. The present work attempts to review the literature on the topic of autophagy role in osteoclastogenesis under microgravity conditions.