ArticleeLife2020
The axonal actin-spectrin lattice acts as a tension buffering shock absorber.
Article in eLife, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 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
48 citing papers in PubMed, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Calcium-Dependent Cytoskeletal Collapse and Recovery of Axons After Partial Laser Ablation.Journal of neurochemistry · 2026Article
- Myosin 5A mediates membrane-associated periodic skeleton reassembly during axon regeneration in response to ROCK-2 inhibition.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- External mechanical force drives axonal cytoskeletal rearrangements.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Nuclear Lamins: A Molecular Bridge Coupling Extracellular Mechanical Cues to Intranuclear Signal Transduction and Gene Regulation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The Electromechanical Connectome: Integrating Voltage, Mechanical Nano-Forces, and Subcellular Fluid Phase Dynamics in Human Neural Computation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Spectrin condensates provide a nidus for assembling the axonal membrane-associated periodic skeleton.iScience · 2026Article
- An epidermal membrane-associated periodic skeleton restricts endocytosis to stabilize neuron-epidermal attachment and preserve axons.Science advances · 2026Article
- Obstacles Regulate Membrane Tension Propagation to Enable Localized Mechanotransduction.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Nonmuscle myosin II regulates presynaptic actin and neuronal mechanobiology in Drosophila.The Journal of cell biology · 2025Article
- Did axons evolve by activating cytokinesis during interphase? A hypothesis on the origin of neurons.Molecular biology of the cell · 2025Review
- The membrane skeleton is constitutively remodeled in neurons by calcium signaling.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- βIV spectrin abundancy, cellular distribution and sensitivity to AKT/GSK3 regulation in schizophrenia.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Paralemmin-1 controls the nanoarchitecture of the neuronal submembrane cytoskeleton.Science advances · 2025Article
- The neuron-intrinsic membrane skeleton is required for motor neuron integrity throughout lifespan.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Dynamic mechanisms for membrane skeleton transitions.Journal of cell science · 2025Article
- Axonal Mechanotransduction Drives Cytoskeletal Responses to Physiological Mechanical Forces.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Membrane mechanics dictate axonal pearls-on-a-string morphology and function.Nature neuroscience · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury AIS Grade Conversion.Neurotrauma reports · 2025Review
- Cellular mechanisms of traumatic brain injury.npj biological physics and mechanics · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Axons span extreme distances and are subject to significant stretch deformations during limb movements or sudden head movements, especially during impacts. Yet, axon biomechanics, and its relation to the ultrastructure that allows axons to withstand mechanical stress, is poorly understood. Using a custom developed force apparatus, we demonstrate that chick dorsal root ganglion axons exhibit a tension buffering or strain-softening response, where its steady state elastic modulus decreases with increasing strain. We then explore the contributions from the various cytoskeletal components of the axon to show that the recently discovered membrane-associated actin-spectrin scaffold plays a prominent mechanical role. Finally, using a theoretical model, we argue that the actin-spectrin skeleton acts as an axonal tension buffer by reversibly unfolding repeat domains of the spectrin tetramers to release excess mechanical stress. Our results revise the current viewpoint that microtubules and their associated proteins are the only significant load-bearing elements in axons.
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.