Experimental models and measurement of autophagy

Our knowledge of autophagy over the past decades is expanding tremendously; however, it is still highly controversial whether autophagy plays a protective or detrimental role in cardiovascular pathological process, such as ischemia/reperfusion injury and a transition from hypertrophy toward heart failure, which is mainly due to the complexity of autophagy process itself. On the other hand, the lack of appropriate and/or standardized methods to monitor, analyze, and quantify the autophagy process can cause data obtained inconsistent and lead to a failure to unravel the natural story of autophagy. This chapter, therefore, aims at discussing selected experimental models of autophagy with various cardiovascular diseases and emphasizing the importance of appropriate ways to carry out experiments and interpreting the data. In addition, some novel methods are introduced which potentially can be applied to our future studies to better assess the roles of autophagy in cardiovascular diseases.