ReviewProgress in neurobiology2017
Alternative mitochondrial electron transfer for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and cancers: Methylene blue connects the dots.
Review in Progress in neurobiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment of methylene blue and NAD on LPS-induced acute brain injury: effects on neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and blood-brain barrier integrity in a rat endotoxemia model.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- The role of lactate in retinal health and disease: mechanisms and potential therapeutic strategies. A narrative review.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2026Review
- The vicious cycle: unraveling the interplay between α-synuclein, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease.Journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Rheology of Aqueous Solutions in the Presence of Proton Exchange Membrane: Surface Tension.Polymers · 2025Article
- Metabolic-transcriptional rewiring by NFE2L2 promotes M2 macrophage polarization and anti-PD-L1 resistance in glioma.Cancer cell international · 2025Article
- Methylene blue reduces postoperative delirium in mice through neuroinflammation suppression and blood-brain barrier repair.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species: A Unifying Mechanism in Long COVID and Spike Protein-Associated Injury: A Narrative Review.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Targeting the Electron Transport System for Enhanced Longevity.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Ginsenoside CK modulates glucose metabolism via PPARγ to ameliorate SCOP-induced cognitive dysfunction.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Article
- Methylene blue at recommended concentrations alters metabolism in early zebrafish development.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Spectroscopic Study of Methylene Blue Interaction with Coenzymes and its Effect on Tumor Metabolism.Sovremennye tekhnologii v meditsine · 2025Article
- Astrocyte-mediated inflammatory responses in traumatic brain injury: mechanisms and potential interventions.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Metabolic Shift and Hyperosmolarity Underlie Age-Related Macular Degeneration.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Methotrimeprazine is a neuroprotective antiviral in JEV infection via adaptive ER stress and autophagy.EMBO molecular medicine · 2024Article
- Association between glioma and neurodegenerative diseases risk: a two-sample bi-directional Mendelian randomization analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Nanomaterials alleviating redox stress in neurological diseases: mechanisms and applications.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2022Review
- A focus on natural products for preventing and cure of mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.Metabolic brain disease · 2022Review
- Knockdown of NDUFC1 inhibits cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Methylene blue ameliorates brain edema in rats with experimental ischemic stroke via inhibiting aquaporin 4 expression.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2021Article
- Methylene Blue Bridges the Inhibition and Produces Unusual Respiratory Changes in Complex III-Inhibited Mitochondria. Studies on Rats, Mice and Guinea Pigs.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Brain has exceptional high requirement for energy metabolism with glucose as the exclusive energy source. Decrease of brain energy metabolism and glucose uptake has been found in patients of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, providing a clear link between neurodegenerative disorders and energy metabolism. On the other hand, cancers, including glioblastoma, have increased glucose uptake and rely on aerobic glycolysis for energy metabolism. The switch of high efficient oxidative phosphorylation to low efficient aerobic glycolysis pathway (Warburg effect) provides macromolecule for biosynthesis and proliferation. Current research indicates that methylene blue, a century old drug, can receive electron from NADH in the presence of complex I and donates it to cytochrome c, providing an alternative electron transfer pathway. Methylene blue increases oxygen consumption, decrease glycolysis, and increases glucose uptake in vitro. Methylene blue enhances glucose uptake and regional cerebral blood flow in rats upon acute treatment. In addition, methylene blue provides protective effect in neuron and astrocyte against various insults in vitro and in rodent models of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. In glioblastoma cells, methylene blue reverses Warburg effect by enhancing mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, arrests glioma cell cycle at s-phase, and inhibits glioma cell proliferation. Accordingly, methylene blue activates AMP-activated protein kinase, inhibits downstream acetyl-coA carboxylase and cyclin-dependent kinases. In summary, there is accumulating evidence providing a proof of concept that enhancement of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation via alternative mitochondrial electron transfer may offer protective action against neurodegenerative diseases and inhibit cancers proliferation.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.