Autophagic flux

Autophagic flux s the dynamic process including autophagosome synthesis, fusion with lysosomes, and the subsequent degradation of autophagic substrates. 

An important fact that needs to be taken into account is that, as mentioned earher, autophagosome or LC3-II accumulation may be produced as a result of an induction of autophagy but can also be produced for an inefficient fusion with lysosome or an inabihty of the lysosomes to degrade autophagosome content once fusion has taken place, caused, for example, by inhibition of lysosomal function after acidification of lysosomal pH. For these reasons, determination of LC3 levels should be always accompanied by measurements of autophagic flux (Box 5.1) in order to ensure a correct interpretation of the results. 

Iwai-Kanai, E. Yuan, H. Huang, C. Sayen, M. R. Perry-Garza, C. N. Kim, L. Gottlieb, R. A. Amethod to measure cardiac autophagic flux in vivo. Autophagy 2008, 4, 322-329. 

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