Macroautophagy, a lysosomal pathway responsible for the turnover of organelles and long-
lived proteins, has been regarded mainly as an inducible process in neurons, which is
mobilized in states of stress and injury. New studies show, however, that macroautophagy is
also constitutively active in healthy neurons and is vital to cell survival. Neurons in the brain,
unlike cells in the periphery, are protected from large-scale autophagy induction because
they can use several different energy sources optimally, receive additional nutrients and …