Mitochondria are double membrane–bound cellular work-horses constantly functioning to regulate vital aspects of cellular metabolism, bioenergetics, proliferation and death. Biogenesis, homeostasis and regulated turnover of mitochondria are stringently regulated to meet the bioenergetic requirements. Diverse external and internal stimuli including oxidative stress, diseases, xenobiotics and even age profoundly affect mitochondrial integrity. Damaged mitochondria need immediate segregation and selective culling to maintain physiological homeostasis. Mitophagy is a specialised form of macroautophagy that constantly checks mitochondrial quality followed by elimination of rogue mitochondria by lysosomal targeting through multiple pathways tightly regulated and activated in context-specific manners. Mitophagy is implicated in diverse oxidative stress–associated metabolic, proliferating and degenerative disorders owing to the centrality of mitopathology in diseases as well as the common mandate to eliminate damaged mitochondria for restoring physiological homeostasis. With improved health care and growing demand for precision medicine, specifically targeting the keystone factors in pathogenesis, more exploratory studies are focused on mitochondrial quality control as underlying guardian of cellular pathophysiology. In this context, mitophagy emerged as a promising area to focus biomedical research for identifying novel therapeutic targets against diseases linked with physiological redox perturbation. The present review provides a comprehensive account of the recent developments on mitophagy along with precise discussion on its impact on major diseases and possibilities of therapeutic modulation.

线粒体是双膜结合的细胞工作马，不断发挥作用，调节细胞代谢、生物能量学、增殖和死亡的重要方面。线粒体的生物发生、稳态和受调控的周转受到严格调控以满足生物能量需求。包括氧化应激、疾病、外源性物质甚至年龄在内的各种外部和内部刺激都会深刻影响线粒体的完整性。受损的线粒体需要立即分离和选择性剔除以维持生理稳态。Mitophagy 是一种特殊形式的巨自噬，它不断检查线粒体质量，然后通过溶酶体靶向通过多种途径以特定方式严格调节和激活，从而消除流氓线粒体。由于线粒体病理学在疾病中的中心地位以及消除受损线粒体以恢复生理稳态的共同任务，线粒体自噬与多种氧化应激相关的代谢、增殖和退行性疾病有关。随着医疗保健的改善和对精准医疗的需求不断增长，特别是针对发病机制的关键因素，更多探索性研究集中在线粒体质量控制上，作为细胞病理生理学的潜在守护者。在这种情况下，线粒体自噬成为生物医学研究的重点领域，以鉴定针对与生理氧化还原扰动相关的疾病的新治疗靶点。