FIGURE 1: Main roles of autophagy for neuronal differentiation. During neurodevelopment, neural stem cells and neuroblasts proliferate and differentiate to give rise to postmitotic neurons. Autophagy has a crucial role in differentiation by promoting cell remodelling including cytoskeleton and membrane receptor degradation as well as organelle degradation. Other functions include metabolic reprogramming and quality control functions. Moreover, other processes that occur during development, such as axonal growth, formation of synapses and synaptic pruning are regulated by autophagy.