In the current drug discovery landscape, natural products continue to be the most important source of new drugs. Research efforts have focused on the development of drugs against pathologies that still lack effective therapeutic treatments. In this context, a cellular process that is physiologically involved in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, referred to as autophagy, has emerged in recent decades for its involvement in the onset of many diseases. Recent studies have aimed to discover new molecular entities from natural sources that are able to interfere in this process and prevent the onset of pathologies such as cancer, infection and neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study, an approach consisting of cell-based assays, followed by a High Content Analysis, has been specifically developed and fine-tuned to select the most interesting crude natural extracts in terms of their effects on the autophagy process. In particular, the analysis of the 40 starting samples derived from 5 crude extracts allowed the isolation of 22 samples, which were sorted based on different typologies of interference on the autophagy process.

Key words: Autophagy, natural products, crude extracts, Autophagocytosis, cell-based assays.