ArticleAnnals of medicine2026
MERTK-related engulfment of norepinephrinergic neuronal presynaptic membrane by astrocytes following acute TBI and potentiation effect of peripheral nerve modulation.
Article in Annals of medicine, 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
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe study investigated the locus coeruleus (LC) changes after acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the effects of peripheral nerve modulation (PNM) in a mouse model.
methodsWe performed closed controlled impact to simulate TBI in mice. We adopted electrical stimulation of the right median nerve as a method of PNM. Low-frequency and high-frequency peripheral nerve modulation (LF-PNM and HF-PNM) were administered on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd days after the injury. We conducted a cell interaction analysis on the single-cell data of the mouse brainstem from the previous stage. Meanwhile, we also performed arousal and stress behavioral tests, immunofluorescence staining for apoptosis and activation of LC norepinephrinergic neurons, and examination of astrocytic phagocytosis in association with MERTK expression.
resultsAcute TBI induced apoptosis of LC norepinephrinergic neurons alongside behavioral impairments. TBI triggered reactive astrogliosis in the LC, with elevated GFAP-Lamp2 colocalization. Increased GFAP-NET colocalization indicated astrocytic engulfment of presynaptic membrane proteins from norepinephrinergic neurons. Cell interaction analysis identified MERTK-mediated astrocyte-norepinephrinergic neuron crosstalk; GFAP-MERTK immunofluorescence confirmed spatially increased astrocytic MERTK expression linked to NET phagocytosis. LF-PNM further enhanced astrocytic phagocytosis of LC norepinephrinergic presynaptic proteins after TBI, reduced neuronal apoptosis, facilitated neuronal activation, and rescued arousal and stress functions.
conclusionAfter acute TBI, LC astrocytes phagocytose norepinephrinergic presynaptic proteins
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.