NPAS3-regulated astrocyte mitochondrial bioenergetics is required for cognition
Kateryna Murlanova, Ksenia Novototskaya-Vlasova, Shovgi Huseynov, Olga Pletnikova, Rebecca D. Howell, Yan Jouroukhin, Dong Won Kim, Adrian Eddy-Sulaiman Jenson, Juhyun Lee, Cheng Qin, Stephen R. Thompson, Vikyath Saraf, Michael J. Morales, Eduardo Cortes Gomez, Russell L. Margolis, Frederick C. Nucifora, Spencer R. Rosario, Andrew A. Pieper, Henry G. Withers, Samir Haj-Dahmane, Juhyun Kim, Mikhail V. Pletnikov · 2026
Read NPAS3-regulated astrocyte mitochondrial bioenergetics is required for cognition by Kateryna Murlanova, Ksenia Novototskaya-Vlasova, Shovgi Huseynov, Olga Pletnikova, Rebecca D. Howell, Yan Jouroukhin, Dong Won Kim, Adrian Eddy-Sulaiman Jenson, Juhyun Lee, Cheng Qin, Stephen R. Thompson, Vikyath Saraf, Michael J. Morales, Eduardo Cortes Gomez, Russell L. Margolis, Frederick C. Nucifora, Spencer R. Rosario, Andrew A. Pieper, Henry G. Withers, Samir Haj-Dahmane, Juhyun Kim, Mikhail V. Pletnikov (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13274620.txt.
Description
Kateryna Murlanova and a large team present a 2026 journal article showing that a gene in star-shaped brain support cells is required for normal thinking in mice. NPAS3 is a gene switch tied to cognitive problems in several psychiatric conditions, and it is strongly active in astrocytes, the brain's support cells. The team deleted it only in mature astrocytes.
The deletion lowered a mitochondrial glutamate carrier, cutting the cells' energy output and their lactate production. Neighboring neurons in the prefrontal cortex then fired less, grew fewer connection spines, and signaled more weakly. The mice performed poorly on a trace fear learning test. Giving lactate, the missing fuel, rescued their learning, tying astrocyte energy directly to cognition.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Kateryna Murlanova, Ksenia Novototskaya-Vlasova, Shovgi Huseynov, Olga Pletnikova, Rebecca D. Howell, Yan Jouroukhin, Dong Won Kim, Adrian Eddy-Sulaiman Jenson, Juhyun Lee, Cheng Qin, Stephen R. Thompson, Vikyath Saraf, Michael J. Morales, Eduardo Cortes Gomez, Russell L. Margolis, Frederick C. Nucifora, Spencer R. Rosario, Andrew A. Pieper, Henry G. Withers, Samir Haj-Dahmane, Juhyun Kim, Mikhail V. Pletnikov |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 105318 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |