Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32431902›Full record

ArticleRoyal Society open science2020

aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology.

Gavin Minty, Alex Hoppen, Ines Boehm, Abrar Alhindi, Larissa Gibb, Ellie Potter, Boris C Wagner, Janice Miller, Richard J E Skipworth, Thomas H Gillingwater and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Royal Society open science, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Junctions in Jeopardy: the neuromuscular junction is a selective pathological target in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.Mammalian genome : official journal of the International Mammalian Genome Society · 2026
    Review
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  11. MuSK Regulates Neuromuscular Junction Nav1.4 Localization and Excitability.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
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  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Gavin MintyEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
Alex HoppenRWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany.
Ines BoehmEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-9343-0944
Abrar AlhindiEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
Larissa GibbEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
Ellie PotterEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
Boris C WagnerEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.
Janice MillerClinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SA, UK.
Richard J E SkipworthClinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SA, UK.
Thomas H GillingwaterEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-0306-5577
Ross A JonesEdinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1569-2500
Mott MacDonald (United Kingdom) · GBEdinburgh Royal Infirmary · GBRWTH Aachen University · DE

Funding

Motor Neurone Disease Association RIBCHESTER/APR15/838-791
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Large-scale data analysis of synaptic morphology is becoming increasingly important to the field of neurobiological research (e.g. 'connectomics'). In particular, a detailed knowledge of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) morphology has proven to be important for understanding the form and function of synapses in both health and disease. The recent introduction of a standardized approach to the morphometric analysis of the NMJ-'NMJ-morph'-has provided the first common software platform with which to analyse and integrate NMJ data from different research laboratories. Here, we describe the design and development of a novel macro-'automated NMJ-morph' or 'aNMJ-morph'-to update and streamline the original NMJ-morph methodology. ImageJ macro language was used to encode the complete NMJ-morph workflow into seven navigation windows that generate robust data for 19 individual pre-/post-synaptic variables. The aNMJ-morph scripting was first validated against reference data generated by the parent workflow to confirm data reproducibility. aNMJ-morph was then compared with the parent workflow in large-scale data analysis of original NMJ images (240 NMJs) by multiple independent investigators. aNMJ-morph conferred a fourfold increase in data acquisition rate compared with the parent workflow, with average analysis times reduced to approximately 1 min per NMJ. Strong concordance was demonstrated between the two approaches for all 19 morphological variables, confirming the robust nature of aNMJ-morph. aNMJ-morph is a freely available and easy-to-use macro for the rapid and robust analysis of NMJ morphology and offers significant improvements in data acquisition and learning curve compared to the original NMJ-morph workflow.

Indexed as

FijiImageJmacroneuromuscular junctionNMJ-morph

Identifiers

PMID32431902
PMCPMC7211862
OpenAlexW3016673126

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.