Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23152597›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2012

Targeting astrocytes ameliorates neurologic changes in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Jennifer L Furman, Diana M Sama, John C Gant, Tina L Beckett, M Paul Murphy, Adam D Bachstetter, Linda J Van Eldik, Christopher M Norris

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 176 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
176citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
11.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

176 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 304 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Vascular contribution to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID): proceedings of 2025 workshop of the Jackson Laboratory.Mammalian genome : official journal of the International Mammalian Genome Society · 2026
    Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
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  11. Article
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  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Astrovascular decoupling in awake 5×FAD mice is associated with reduced astrocytic calcium.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  17. Experimental modeling of Alzheimer's disease: Translational lessons from cross-taxon analyses.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Review
  18. Celebrating 40 years of the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  19. Calcineurin inhibition may prevent Alzheimer disease in people with Down syndrome.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Review
  20. Article

116 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Jennifer L FurmanDepartment of Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA.
Diana M Sama
John C Gant
Tina L Beckett
M Paul Murphy
Adam D Bachstetter
Linda J Van Eldik
Christopher M Norris
University of Kentucky · USInstitute of Neurobiology · BGNational Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology · JP

Funding

TROPIC, CHOLINERGIC AND PATHOLOGIC CHANGES IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASEP01AG005119 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI ST CLAIR, DARET K · 1985 to 2012
$15.4M
Calcineurin and inflammatory signaling processes in aging and Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG027297 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI NORRIS, CHRISTOPHER MARK · 2006 to 2018
$3.2M
Calcineurin and inflammatory signaling processes in aging and Alzheimer's DiseaseRF1AG027297 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI NORRIS, CHRISTOPHER MARK · 2018 to 2022
$2.6M
NIA NIH HHS AG005119NIA NIH HHS AG027297NIA NIH HHS P01 AG005119NIA NIH HHS R01 AG027297NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG027297
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the brain and play a critical role in maintaining healthy nervous tissue. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and most other neurodegenerative disorders, many astrocytes convert to a chronically "activated" phenotype characterized by morphologic and biochemical changes that appear to compromise protective properties and/or promote harmful neuroinflammatory processes. Activated astrocytes emerge early in the course of AD and become increasingly prominent as clinical and pathological symptoms progress, but few studies have tested the potential of astrocyte-targeted therapeutics in an intact animal model of AD. Here, we used adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors containing the astrocyte-specific Gfa2 promoter to target hippocampal astrocytes in APP/PS1 mice. AAV-Gfa2 vectors drove the expression of VIVIT, a peptide that interferes with the immune/inflammatory calcineurin/NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T-cells) signaling pathway, shown by our laboratory and others to orchestrate biochemical cascades leading to astrocyte activation. After several months of treatment with Gfa2-VIVIT, APP/PS1 mice exhibited improved cognitive and synaptic function, reduced glial activation, and lower amyloid levels. The results confirm a deleterious role for activated astrocytes in AD and lay the groundwork for exploration of other novel astrocyte-based therapies.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseAnimalsAstrocytesAvoidance LearningBlotting, WesternBrainCalcineurin InhibitorsCells, CulturedDependovirusEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent AssayExcitatory Postsynaptic PotentialsGene Transfer TechniquesHumansImage Processing, Computer-AssistedImmunohistochemistryInflammationCalcineurin InhibitorsNFATC Transcription FactorsOligopeptidesVIVIT peptide

Identifiers

PMID23152597
PMCPMC3506017
OpenAlexW2106729121

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.