ArticlePhysiological reports2026
Hypoglossal and lumbar motor neuron death in old Sprague-Dawley rats.
Article in Physiological reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Striated muscle weakness and motor neuron (MN) death are associated with aging. These alterations affect both brainstem and spinal motor pools, including hypoglossal MNs innervating the tongue and lumbar MNs innervating the lower/hindlimbs. Both MNs and striated muscles exhibit type-selective motor unit vulnerability, where larger MNs (likely fast fatigable motor units) and type IIx/b muscles are vulnerable to death and atrophy, respectively. These findings have been cemented in humans to some degree and in Fischer 344 and Wistar rats. However, MN survival in old age has not been evaluated in Sprague-Dawley rats. Here, in 6- (young) and 24-month-old (old) female and male Sprague-Dawley rats, we performed stereological MN counts on hypoglossal and lumbar MNs using 16 μm Nissl-stained sections. We observed a 35% loss of hypoglossal and lumbar MNs in old age. Although mean MN somal surface areas were moderately reduced in hypoglossal and unchanged in lumbar MNs with age, frequency histogram analyses revealed a disproportionate loss of larger MN in old age hypoglossal and lumbar pools. These findings reveal reliable and robust observations of MN death in rats. This neurogenic aspect of neuromotor impairment with age may be a key driver of sarcopenia and frailty in the elderly.
Indexed as
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.