ArticleAPL bioengineering2025
Astrocyte-driven vasoconstriction impairs glymphatic clearance in a human tauopathy-on-chip model.
Article in APL bioengineering, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Central nervous system lymphatic network: from the maintenance of brain homeostasis to emerging therapeutic perspectives in neurodegenerative diseases.Translational neurodegeneration · 2026Review
- Regional astrocyte dysregulation and altered glymphatic-related markers in Alzheimer's disease frontal cortex.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Lymphatics-on-a-chip microphysiological system: engineering lymphatic structure and functionLab on a chip · 2026Review
- Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion exacerbates amyloid and tau pathology by impairing glymphatic transport via AQP4- and VEGF-mediated pathways: insights from a vascular to mixed-type dementia model.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Modeling Alzheimer's disease with brain organoids: mechanisms, applications, and future directions.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Human Multi-Organ-on-a-Chip Platforms for Next-Generation Drug Delivery Strategies.Theranostics · 2026Review
- Mechanomedicine: Translating mechanical forces into therapeutic strategies.APL bioengineering · 2025Article
- From Electron Imbalance to Network Collapse: Decoding the Redox Code of Ischemic Stroke for Biomarker-Guided Precision Neuroprotection.International journal of molecular sciences · 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
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The glymphatic system is a critical pathway for clearing metabolic waste from the brain by mediating cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid exchange. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), tau protein accumulation is strongly associated with impaired glymphatic clearance, yet the underlying mechanism remains poorly defined. In this study, we employed a three-dimensional human glymphatics-on-chip model to investigate fluid transport and mass clearance in a brain-mimetic extracellular matrix containing engineered blood vessels (BV) surrounded by primary astrocytes. We found that phosphorylated tau (p-tau) induced morphological transformation of astrocytes into a hypertrophic, hypercontractile state, leading to astrocyte-mediated vasoconstriction and impaired glymphatic clearance. Notably, p-tau did not affect blood endothelial cells directly, implicating astrocyte-dependent mechanisms in glymphatic deregulation. Pharmacological inhibition of non-muscle myosin II with blebbistatin reversed astrocytic hypercontractility, restored BV diameters, and rescued glymphatic function. These findings elucidate a glial-specific mechanism of tau-induced glymphatic dysfunction and underscore astrocytic contractility as a promising therapeutic target in AD.
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.