ArticleScience advances2016
Microfluidic device for the formation of optically excitable, three-dimensional, compartmentalized motor units.
Article in Science advances, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers.
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.
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
108 citing papers in PubMed, 215 citations in OpenAlex.
- From optical control to translational readiness: an evidence-tiered framework for optogenetics in neuromuscular and neurological disorders.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
- Quantitative Analysis of Axonal Degeneration and TDP-43 Aggregation in Compartmentalized Human iPSC-Derived Motor Neuron-Myotube Co-cultures.Bio-protocol · 2026Article
- Manufacturing, Cell Regulation, and Coculture Strategies for Vascularization and Neural Innervation of Skeletal Muscle Tissue.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Review
- Limb-on-a-Chip: An All-Hydrogel Platform for Scalable and Reproducible Engineering of Functional Neuromuscular Tissues.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- Neuromuscular junction formation by compartmentalized culture using human iPS cell-derived motor neurons and skeletal muscle cells.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2026Article
- Endothelial-smooth muscle microgauges for modeling pulmonary arterial vasoregulation.Lab on a chip · 2025Article
- The role of 3D printing in skeletal muscle-on-a-chip models: Current applications and future potential.Materials today. Bio · 2025Article
- Metal-organic polyhedra maintain the self-renewal of embryonic stem cells.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Geometrically-engineered human motor assembloids-on-a-chip for neuromuscular interaction readout and hypoxia-driven disease modeling.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Optogenetic neuromuscular actuation of a miniature electronic biohybrid robot.Science robotics · 2025Article
- Aging on Chip: Harnessing the Potential of Microfluidic Technologies in Aging and Rejuvenation Research.Advanced healthcare materials · 2025Review
- A forward-engineered, muscle-driven soft robotic swimmer.Science advances · 2025Article
- Modelling human brain development and disease with organoids.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2025Review
- Neural Excitatory/Inhibitory Imbalance in Motor Aging: From Genetic Mechanisms to Therapeutic Challenges.Biology · 2025Review
- An automated platform for simultaneous, longitudinal analysis of engineered neuromuscular tissues for applications in neurotoxin potency testing.Current research in toxicology · 2025Article
- Neurochemical and Morphological Comparisons of Motor Nerve Organoids and Spinal-Cord Explants.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2025Article
- Endothelial-mesenchymal transition in skeletal muscle: Opportunities and challenges from 3D microphysiological systems.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2024Review
- Neuronal innervation regulates the secretion of neurotrophic myokines and exosomes from skeletal muscle.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- The Evolution of Technology-Driven In Vitro Models for Neurodegenerative Diseases.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Review
- Microengineering 3D Collagen Matrices with Tumor-Mimetic Gradients in Fiber Alignment.Advanced functional materials · 2024Article
48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Motor units are the fundamental elements responsible for muscle movement. They are formed by lower motor neurons and their muscle targets, synapsed via neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). The loss of NMJs in neurodegenerative disorders (such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal muscle atrophy) or as a result of traumatic injuries affects millions of lives each year. Developing in vitro assays that closely recapitulate the physiology of neuromuscular tissues is crucial to understand the formation and maturation of NMJs, as well as to help unravel the mechanisms leading to their degeneration and repair. We present a microfluidic platform designed to coculture myoblast-derived muscle strips and motor neurons differentiated from mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) within a three-dimensional (3D) hydrogel. The device geometry mimics the spinal cord-limb physical separation by compartmentalizing the two cell types, which also facilitates the observation of 3D neurite outgrowth and remote muscle innervation. Moreover, the use of compliant pillars as anchors for muscle strips provides a quantitative functional readout of force generation. Finally, photosensitizing the ESC provides a pool of source cells that can be differentiated into optically excitable motor neurons, allowing for spatiodynamic, versatile, and noninvasive in vitro control of the motor units.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.