ReviewNature reviews. Neuroscience2020
Locus coeruleus: a new look at the blue spot.
Review in Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 406 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
406 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Neuropeptide S modulation of learning and memory: a systematic review.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Pooled it
- The genetic architecture of brainstem structures.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Salient experiences enhance mundane memories through graded prioritization.Science advances · 2025Pooled it
- Protocol of the randomized double blind sham controlled AddVNS study of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation mechanisms in depression.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Blue enriched light modulates pupil dilation induced by transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Bilateral transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of insomnia in breast cancer.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- MERTK-related engulfment of norepinephrinergic neuronal presynaptic membrane by astrocytes following acute TBI and potentiation effect of peripheral nerve modulation.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Neuroinflammation and noradrenergic modulation with β2-adrenoceptors: Emerging therapeutic targets for Parkinson's diseases.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- A new hope: locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system at the nexus of neuropsychiatric symptoms.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Article
- Molecular programs in human locus coeruleus link APOE and neuromelanin to Alzheimer's vulnerability.Acta neuropathologica · 2026Article
- Pharmacological and Physiological Characteristics of Synaptic Transmissions From the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Onto Noradrenergic Neurons and Inhibitory Interneurons in the Mouse Locus Coeruleus.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Article
- Periestropause enhances hypoxia-induced panic and microglial remodelling without altering respiratory control.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Brain-first and body-first subtypes of Lewy body disease.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- Sleep Disorders in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Pathological Correlations and Underlying Mechanisms.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Adjunctive Pharmacotherapy for Major Depressive Disorder with Anxiety Symptoms: from Monoamines to Recent Clinical Evidence.CNS drugs · 2026Review
- Brain-wide activity mapping reveals the somatosensory cortex as a sex-specific regulator of hedonic feeding.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Task-irrelevant stimuli robustly drive phasic pupil-linked arousal but only weakly affect memory formation.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A prefrontal peptidergic circuit for psychogenic itch.Science advances · 2026Article
- Locus Coeruleus as a Master Regulator of Diverse Functions in the Central Nervous System: Its Relevance in Ageing and Neurodegenerative Disorders.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Review
346 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
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The locus coeruleus (LC), or 'blue spot', is a small nucleus located deep in the brainstem that provides the far-reaching noradrenergic neurotransmitter system of the brain. This phylogenetically conserved nucleus has proved relatively intractable to full characterization, despite more than 60 years of concerted efforts by investigators. Recently, an array of powerful new neuroscience tools have provided unprecedented access to this elusive nucleus, revealing new levels of organization and function. We are currently at the threshold of major discoveries regarding how this tiny brainstem structure exerts such varied and significant influences over brain function and behaviour. All LC neurons receive inputs related to autonomic arousal, but distinct subpopulations of those neurons can encode specific cognitive processes, presumably through more specific inputs from the forebrain areas. This ability, combined with specific patterns of innervation of target areas and heterogeneity in receptor distributions, suggests that activation of the LC has more specific influences on target networks than had initially been imagined.
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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.