ArticleNature2016
Astrocyte scar formation aids central nervous system axon regeneration.
Article in Nature, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1,046 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
1,046 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1,854 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physical exercise and inflammation in Parkinson's disease: a review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Pooled it
- A pleiotropic single-molecule, sustained-release regenerative scaffold enables coordinated repair after ischemic stroke.Bioactive materials · 2026Article
- Collagen Triple Helix Repeat Containing 1 (CTHRC1) in the Nervous System: Expression, Signaling Mechanisms, and Functional Implications.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Review
- Multi-omics prediction of key proteases regulating scar formation and neural repair after spinal cord injury.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Review
- Integrated analysis of single-cell transcriptome identifies a glial-neurovascular signaling trajectory in brain repair after ischemia.Biology direct · 2026Article
- Treatment with Neuronal-Induced Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves Functional Recovery of Acute Spinal Cord Injury through Attenuating Astrogliosis and Neurotoxic Astrocyte Activation.Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society · 2026Article
- NG2-Glia in Central Nervous System Following Injury: From Pathological Involvement to Repair Potential.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Review
- TRANsCre-DIONE transdifferentiates scar-forming reactive astrocytes into functional motor neurons.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2026Article
- Umbrella-type stretchable electrode arrays for long-term neural recording.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Beyond Scar Removal: Reprogramming the Glial Scar for Neural Repair.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- ZO-1-dependent fibrotic scar border formation impedes axon regeneration after spinal cord injury.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Focal astrocyte loss reveals nuclear translocation during lesion repopulation.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Magnetoelectric microrobots for spinal cord injury regeneration.Nature materials · 2026Article
- The Repair Manual of a Fruit Fly Brain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- PLIN2-PGAM5-regulated lipid droplet-mitochondria contacts drive microglial neuroinflammation after spinal cord injury via fatty acid metabolic reprogramming.Cell death and differentiation · 2026Article
- Clinical trial landscape of cell therapy for spinal cord injury: from integrated practices to future developments.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- PBAE nanoparticle-mediated delivery of ASCL1 and NGN2 genes for astroglia-to-neuron reprogramming to remodel glial scar for spinal cord injury repair.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Article
- Innate immune signaling and functions in astrocytes.Nature immunology · 2026Review
- Deep brain stimulation induces white matter remodeling and functional changes to brain-wide networks.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
986 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Transected axons fail to regrow in the mature central nervous system. Astrocytic scars are widely regarded as causal in this failure. Here, using three genetically targeted loss-of-function manipulations in adult mice, we show that preventing astrocyte scar formation, attenuating scar-forming astrocytes, or ablating chronic astrocytic scars all failed to result in spontaneous regrowth of transected corticospinal, sensory or serotonergic axons through severe spinal cord injury (SCI) lesions. By contrast, sustained local delivery via hydrogel depots of required axon-specific growth factors not present in SCI lesions, plus growth-activating priming injuries, stimulated robust, laminin-dependent sensory axon regrowth past scar-forming astrocytes and inhibitory molecules in SCI lesions. Preventing astrocytic scar formation significantly reduced this stimulated axon regrowth. RNA sequencing revealed that astrocytes and non-astrocyte cells in SCI lesions express multiple axon-growth-supporting molecules. Our findings show that contrary to the prevailing dogma, astrocyte scar formation aids rather than prevents central nervous system axon regeneration.
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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.