title: Glucosamine induces autophagy via an mTOR-independent pathway.
abstract: Autophagy is a cellular process that nonspecifically degrades cytosolic components and is involved in many cellular responses. We found that amino sugars with a free amino group such as glucosamine, galactosamine and mannosamine induced autophagy via an mTOR-independent pathway. Glucosamine-induced autophagy at concentrations of at least 500 microM to over 40 mM. In the presence of 40 mM glucosamine, autophagy induction was initiated at 6h and reached a plateau at 36 h. Glucosamine-induced autophagy could remove accumulated ubiquitin-conjugated proteins as well as 79-glutamine repeats. Therefore, orally administered glucosamine could contribute to the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases and promotion of antiaging effects.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bioresponse, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shintani
authors.forename: Fumiyoshi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Katoh
authors.forename: Midori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Umekawa
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matahira
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kakizuka
authors.forename: Kazuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Totani
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ashida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D019556:COS Cells; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D005944:Glucosamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; C546842:MTOR protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D005944:Glucosamine