Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40454577›Full record

ArticleeLife2025

Chemogenetic stimulation of phrenic motor output and diaphragm activity.

Ethan S Benevides, Prajwal P Thakre, Sabhya Rana, Michael D Sunshine, Victoria N Jensen, Karim Oweiss, David D Fuller

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing 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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Ethan S BenevidesDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2472-0606
Prajwal P ThakreDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.
Sabhya RanaDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1303-6614
Michael D SunshineDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.
Victoria N JensenDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.
Karim OweissMcKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.
David D FullerDepartment of Physical Therapy, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5013-5972

Funding

Control of Breathing & Glycogen Storage DiseaseR01HD052682 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · PI BYRNE, BARRY J, FULLER, DAVID D · 2007 to 2024
$6.4M
NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD052682NIH HHS 5R01HD052682
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Impaired respiratory motor output contributes to morbidity and mortality in many neurodegenerative diseases and neurologic injuries. We investigated if expressing designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) in the mid-cervical spinal cord could effectively stimulate phrenic motor output to increase diaphragm activation. Two primary questions were addressed: (1) does effective DREADD-mediated diaphragm activation require focal expression in phrenic motoneurons (vs. non-specific mid-cervical expression), and (2) can this method produce a sustained increase in inspiratory tidal volume? Wild-type (C57Bl/6) and ChAT-Cre mice received bilateral intraspinal (C4) injections of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) encoding the hM3D(Gq) excitatory DREADD. In wild-type mice, this produced non-specific DREADD expression throughout the mid-cervical ventral horn. In ChAT-Cre mice, a Cre-dependent viral construct was used to drive neuronal DREADD expression in the C4 ventral horns, targeting phrenic motoneurons. Diaphragm electromyograms (EMG) were recorded in isoflurane-anesthetized spontaneously breathing mice at 4-9 weeks post-AAV delivery. The DREADD ligand JHU37160 (J60) caused a bilateral, sustained (>1 hr) increase in inspiratory EMG bursting in both groups; the relative increase was greater in ChAT-Cre mice. Additional experiments in ChAT-Cre rats were conducted to determine if spinal DREADD activation could increase inspiratory tidal volume during spontaneous breathing, assessed using whole-body plethysmography without anesthesia. Three to four months after intraspinal (C4) injection of AAV driving Cre-dependent hM3D(Gq) expression, intravenous J60 resulted in a sustained (>30 min) increase in tidal volume. Subsequently, phrenic nerve recordings performed under urethane anesthesia confirmed that J60 evoked a >200% increase in inspiratory output. We conclude that targeting mid-cervical spinal DREADD expression to the phrenic motoneuron pool enables ligand-induced, sustained increases in phrenic motor output and tidal volume. Further development of this technology may enable application to clinical conditions associated with impaired diaphragm activation and hypoventilation.

Indexed as

Designer DrugsDiaphragmMotor NeuronsPhrenic NerveAnimalsChemogeneticsDependovirusElectromyographyMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLRatsDesigner Drugschemogeneticsdiaphragm EMGDREADDmouseneurosciencephrenicplethysmographyratrespiratory neural control

Identifiers

PMID40454577
PMCPMC12129449

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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 Socratic graph.