Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38845524›Full record

ArticleEpilepsia open2024

Age-dependent increase of perineuronal nets in the human hippocampus and precocious aging in epilepsy.

Annika Lehner, Lucas Hoffmann, Stefan Rampp, Roland Coras, Friedrich Paulsen, Renato Frischknecht, Hajo Hamer, Katrin Walther, Sebastian Brandner, Wiebke Hofer and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Epilepsia open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

13 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Critical Periods and Beyond: Dynamic Functions of Perineuronal Nets in Cognition, Development, and Disease.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
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

14 authors.

Annika LehnerDepartment of Neuropathology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4110-4383
Lucas HoffmannDepartment of Neuropathology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Stefan RamppDepartment of Neuroradiology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4826-1520
Roland CorasDepartment of Neuropathology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Friedrich PaulsenInstitute of Functional and Clinical Anatomy, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Renato FrischknechtDepartment of Biology, Animal Physiology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Hajo HamerEpilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1709-8617
Katrin WaltherEpilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4623-9466
Sebastian BrandnerDepartment of Neurosurgery, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Wiebke HoferDepartment of Psychology/Neuropsychology, Center for Pediatric Neurology, Neurorehabilitation, and Epileptology, Schön Klinik Vogtareuth, Germany.
Tom PieperCenter for Pediatric Neurology, Neurorehabilitation, and Epileptology, Schön Klinik Vogtareuth, Germany.
Lea-Marie ReischDepartment of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Medical School, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Christian G BienDepartment of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Medical School, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2225-8654
Ingmar BlumckeDepartment of Neuropathology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8676-0788

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 460333672Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Bl421/4-1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivePerineuronal nets (PNN) are specialized extracellular matrix (ECM) components of the central nervous system, frequently accumulating at the surface of inhibitory GABAergic interneurons. While an altered distribution of PNN has been observed in neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and epilepsy, their anatomical distribution also changes during physiological brain maturation and aging. Such an age-dependent shift was experimentally associated also with hippocampal engram formation during brain maturation. Our aim was to histopathologically assess PNN in the hippocampus of adult and pediatric patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) compared to age-matched post-mortem control subjects and to compare PNN-related changes with memory impairment observed in our patient cohort.

methodsSixty-six formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue specimens of the human hippocampus were retrieved from the European Epilepsy Brain Bank. Twenty-nine patients had histopathologically confirmed hippocampal sclerosis (HS), and eleven patients suffered from TLE without HS. PNN were immunohistochemically visualized using an antibody directed against aggrecan and manually counted from hippocampus subfields and the subiculum.

resultsPNN density increased with age in both human controls and TLE patients. However, their density was significantly higher in all HS patients compared to age-matched controls. Intriguingly, TLE patients presented presurgically with better memory when their hippocampal PNN density was higher (p < 0.05). SIGNIFICANCE: Our results were compatible with age-dependent ECM specialization in the human hippocampus and its precocious aging in the epileptic condition. These observations confirm recent experimental animal models and also support the notion that PNN play a role in memory formation in the human brain. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: "Perineuronal nets" (PNN) are a specialized compartment of the extracellular matrix (ECM), especially surrounding highly active neurons of the mammalian brain. There is evidence that PNN play a role in memory formation, brain maturation, and in some pathologies like Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia or epilepsy. In this study, we investigated the role of PNN in patients suffering from drug-resistant focal epilepsy compared to controls. We found that with increasing age, more neurons are surrounded by PNN. Similarly, all epilepsy patients but especially patients with better memory performance also had more PNN. This study raises further interest in studying ECM molecules in the human brain under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.

Indexed as

AgingEpilepsy, Temporal LobeExtracellular MatrixHippocampusAdolescentAdultAgedChildFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSclerosisYoung Adultbrainextracellular matrixhippocampal sclerosismaturationneuropathology

Identifiers

PMID38845524
PMCPMC11296138

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Registered trials

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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.