ArticleAging cell2018
α-Motor neurons are spared from aging while their synaptic inputs degenerate in monkeys and mice.
Article in Aging cell, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 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.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Age-related differences in motor unit discharge rate modulation across contraction levels.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The Prospective Regulatory Functions of lncRNAs and Their ceRNA Networks in the Development of Motor Neurons and Associated Diseases.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- The evidence for old age motor neuron death: A scoping review.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Spinal cord structural and functional architecture and its shared organization with the brain across the adult lifespan.Nature communications · 2026Article
- SK channel upregulation and sex-specific mechanisms drive spinal motoneuron reduced excitability with age.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Sex and Age-Related Changes in Lean Mass of C57BL/6 Mice: A New Method for Assessing Body Composition.Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference · 2025Article
- Age-related increase in the excitability of mouse layer V pyramidal neurons in the primary motor cortex is accompanied by an increased persistent inward current.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Alterations in neuromuscular junction morphology with ageing and endurance training modulate neuromuscular transmission and myofibre composition.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
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- Molecular hallmarks of ageing in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2024Review
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- The Brain and Spinal Microvasculature in Normal Aging.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2023Review
- Aging alters mechanisms underlying voluntary movements in spinal motor neurons of mice, primates, and humans.JCI insight · 2023Article
- A KO mouse model for the lncRNA Lhx1os produces motor neuron alterations and locomotor impairment.iScience · 2023Article
- Aging affects the number and morphological heterogeneity of rat phrenic motor neurons and phrenic motor axons.Physiological reports · 2023Article
- Impaired communication at the neuromotor axis during Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Neural recovery after cortical injury: Effects of MSC derived extracellular vesicles on motor circuit remodeling in rhesus monkeys.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2022Article
- The 2022 On-site Padua Days on Muscle and Mobility Medicine hosts the University of Florida Institute of Myology and the Wellstone Center, March 30 - April 3, 2022 at the University of Padua and Thermae of Euganean Hills, Padua, Italy: The collection of abstracts.European journal of translational myology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Motor function deteriorates with advancing age, increasing the risk of adverse health outcomes. While it is well established that skeletal muscles and neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) degenerate with increasing age, the effect of aging on α-motor neurons and their innervating synaptic inputs remains largely unknown. In this study, we examined the soma of α-motor neurons and innervating synaptic inputs in the spinal cord of aged rhesus monkeys and mice, two species with vastly different lifespans. We found that, in both species, α-motor neurons retain their soma size despite an accumulation of large amounts of cellular waste or lipofuscin. Interestingly, the lipofuscin profile varied considerably, indicating that α-motor neurons age at different rates. Although the rate of aging varies, α-motor neurons do not atrophy in old age. In fact, there is no difference in the number of motor axons populating ventral roots in old mice compared to adult mice. Moreover, the transcripts and proteins associated with α-motor neurons do not decrease in the spinal cord of old mice. However, in aged rhesus monkeys and mice, there were fewer cholinergic and glutamatergic synaptic inputs directly abutting α-motor neurons, evidence that aging causes α-motor neurons to shed synaptic inputs. Thus, the loss of synaptic inputs may contribute to age-related dysfunction of α-motor neurons. These findings broaden our understanding of the degeneration of the somatic motor system that precipitates motor dysfunction with advancing age.
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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.