autophagia: Meaning and Definition of

au•to•pha•gia

Pronunciation: (ô"tu-fā'ju, -jē-u), [key]
— n. Physiol.
  1. controlled digestion of damaged organelles within a cell.
  2. the maintenance of bodily nutrition by the metabolic breakdown of some bodily tissues.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.