Autophagy: A Key Player in Oral Tissue Regeneration

Stem cells are crucial for tissue regeneration, including oral tissue regeneration. The autophagy pathway plays a vital role in maintaining and regulating the fundamental properties of stem cells, such as survival, quiescence, self-renewal, differentiation, proliferation, and senescence. Additionally, it facilitates paracrine function and prevents cell damage from harsh environmental stimuli. Stem cells in injured oral tissue face complex and severe inflammatory, immune, and mechanical environments, and autophagy helps alleviate the survival stress of these stem cells. It activates multiple signaling pathways to help stem cells eliminate survival stress. However, if the cell is severely damaged or cannot be repaired, autophagy-induced cell death/apoptosis contributes to cell clearance. The improvement or removal process is significant for tissue regeneration. Further studies to optimize stem cell stemness and metabolism by manipulating autophagy is meaningful for improving oral tissue regeneration results (Figure 2).