Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42611703›Full record

ArticleCell reports2026

Circadian rhythms in microglia mediate early life synaptic development in a sex-specific manner.

Brandy N Routh, Cecily R Gibson, Celina C Yang, Leanna Doan, Andrew D Gaudet, Hans A Hofmann, Regina A Mangieri, Laura K Fonken

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Cell reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

8 authors.

Brandy N RouthInterdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, College of Natural Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Cecily R GibsonDivision of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Celina C YangDivision of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Leanna DoanDivision of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Andrew D GaudetInterdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, College of Natural Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Neurology, Dell Medical School, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Hans A HofmannInterdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, College of Natural Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Regina A MangieriInterdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, College of Natural Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Laura K FonkenInterdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, College of Natural Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA. Electronic address: laura.fonken@austin.utexas.edu.

Funding

Disrupted Circadian Regulation of Cell Migration at CNS-Immune Interfaces in Aging and Alzheimer's DiseaseR01AG078758 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · PI Laura K Fonken · 2022 to 2026
$2.9M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG078758
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Children today experience widespread circadian disruption from nighttime screen use and irregular sleep, yet how internal clocks shape brain development is unclear. Adolescence is a critical window when synaptic connectivity is refined, in part by microglia that engulf synaptic elements. Here, in adolescent mice, we show that hippocampal microglia exhibit diurnal transcriptional rhythms, with synaptic pruning gene expression peaking during the rest phase. Inducible deletion of the core clock gene Bmal1 in microglia in early life abolishes these rhythms and alters developing hippocampal synapses in a sex-dependent manner. In males, clock disruption increases synapse engulfment, reduces dendritic spine density, and decreases synaptic connectivity; females show similar reductions in synaptic connectivity without overt postsynaptic structural changes. Microglial clock disruption also induces broad, sex-specific changes in synapse-related gene expression that overlap with neurodevelopmental disorder pathways and lead to impaired memory and sociability, indicating microglial clocks as key regulators of developmental synapse refinement.

Indexed as

adolescenceBmal1brain developmentcircadian rhythmsCP: developmental biologyCP: neurosciencehippocampusmicroglianeurodevelopmental disorderssynapsesynaptic pruning

Identifiers

PMID42611703
PMCPMC13656317

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.