#autophagy

• To self-devour — To destroy, consume, or eat oneself. In cell biology, it describes the structural process of autophagy through which a cell degrades its own damaged components to survive, whereas in a figurative or literary sense, it refers to a person consumed and ground internally by destructive passions, remorse, or hatred.
• Self-devouring — The act of self-devouring and its result; a physiological or pathological process through which an organism, cell, or tissue consumes or destroys its own constitutive structures. In cell biology, it represents the equivalent of the structural process of autophagy, whereas in a figurative or psychological sense, it describes intense inner turmoil caused by remorse, obsessions, or destructive moral suffering.
• Autophagic — Regarding cells, organisms, or biological processes: autophagic; destroying or consuming its own tissues, cellular components, or altered organelles to survive or regenerate. In biology, the term applies to vacuoles or lysosomal structures involved in autophagy, ensuring cellular cleanup and macromolecule recycling.
• Autophagy — A fundamental physiological process through which cells isolate, degrade, and recycle their own non-functional components, aged organelles, or degraded macromolecules via lysosomes. This homeostatic mechanism plays a crucial role in cell survival under stress or starvation conditions, in eliminating intracellular pathogens, and in preventing various metabolic or neurodegenerative pathologies.