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04 March 2026
Fuel Line
Nerve activity is thirsty work. Producing that energy are the nerve cells' mitochondria, and it's become clear these can be transferred between cells, docking like aircraft refuelling mid-air, via tunnelling nanotubes (pictured here connecting two cells) depending on demand. This study finds evidence for nerve supporters called satellite glial cells transferring mitochondria to neighbouring sensory neurons in living mice to protect against nerve damage and pain
Read the published research article here
Written by
- Image from work by Jing Xu and colleagues
- Center for Translational Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
- Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
- Published in Nature, January 2026
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