Autophagy and Cell Survival/deathMacroautophagy (hereinafter referred to as autophagy) is a process in which cellular lipids, proteins or organelles are engulfed into double membrane vesicles and fused with lysosomes to form autolysosomes, and then, part of cytoplasmic constituents are degraded by acidic hydrolases to release free amino acids and fatty acids [1]. Therefore, autophagy is an important pathway for energy production during starvation and is regarded as a protective response to metabolic stress [2]. Autophagy is interconnected with multiple signaling pathways and has the ability to regulate other cellular and tissue processes, such as cell apoptosis, proliferation, differentiation, and inflammation, those have been connected to many pathological processes, including neurodegeneration, aging, cancer, infection and inflammatory diseases [3]. Autophagy is considered as a double-edged sword in many pathological conditions [4,5]. The regulated autophagy has shown to provide a prosurvival function in response to nutrient starvation, and autophagic removal of damaged or malfunctional mitochondria can also help block the activation of mitochondrial apoptotic pathways [6]. However, in some circumstances, the massive induction of autophagy or blockade of autophagy flux has shown to contribute to or enhance the process of cell death including programmed cell death and inflammation [5,7]. Our previous study indicated that ischemia/reperfusion-induced excessive autophagy exacerbated neuronal damage, which suggested that inhibition of autophagy is favor for cell survival [8].The process of autophagy in response to cell death and survival is regulated by multiple pathways. There are three main signal transduction pathways that regulate autophagy are involved in regulating metabolic homeostasis for cell survival. These signaling pathways include the energysensing cascade kinases, such as protein kinase A (PKA), adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) [5]. Some apoptotic regulators such as Tumor