Fig. 3: Progression and morphological features of autophagy-mediated cell death.

A The figure shows three types of autophagy, namely, macroautophagy, microautophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy. Macroautophagy involves the formation of double-membrane vesicles that engulf cytoplasmic components and organelles and then fuse with lysosomes to form autolysosomes. Microautophagy involves engulfing cytoplasmic components and organelles directly into lysosomes. Chaperone-mediated autophagy degrades specific proteins via chaperone proteins that transport them to lysosomes. B The figure highlights the contrast between autophagy and autosis, two processes involving autophagy. While autophagic cell death is a result of excessive autophagy, autosis is characterized by three distinct phases characterized by cells with unique morphological features and is triggered by various signals, such as Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase, Tat-Beclin 1, and hypoxia–ischemia.