Is Autophagy one of the mechanisms of programmed cell death during embryogenesis ?
Programmed cell death plays a critical role in embryogenesis. Of the two main types of PCD, apoptosis requires the action of phagocytes to remove and digest the cellular debris and so cannot occur during embryogenesis until phagocytes develop. Autophagy uses the cells’ own internal systems to produce digestive enzymes which eventually break the cells down into useful nutrients for the developing embryo; this process becomes operational as early as the four- to eight-cell stage of development.
