Nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and are members of the neurotrophin family, a family of neurotrophic factors that also includes neurotrophin (NT) 3 and NT4/5. Neurotrophins have essential roles in the survival, development and differentiation of neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Neurotrophins exert their effects by binding to correspon...

Purpose We tested the hypothesis that short-term treatment with brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) would alter the contractile characteristics of rabbit extraocular muscle (EOM). Methods One week after injections of BDNF in adult rabbit superior rectus muscles, twitch properties were determined in treated and control muscles in vitro. Muscles were also examined for changes in mean cross...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may predict markers of neurocognitive performance (i.e., executive function; EF) and brain health/plasticity brain-derived neurotrophic factor; BDNF). This pilot examined: (1) ACES history current EF performance, (2) ACEs BDNF levels, (3) levels. We hypothesized that higher would be associated with lower scores these patterns serum Given the nature study, em...

This article reviews recent studies that have examined differences and similarities in the neurotrophic growth factor requirements of neural crest- and neural placode-derived sensory neurons of the developing chick embryo. From in vitro experiments using both explant and dissociated, neuron-enriched cultures of spinal and cranial nerve sensory neurons, it has been established that only sensory ...

background: ionizing radiation causes cognitive impairment in adult brain. however, the effects of various irradiation protocols with fractionated fixed total dose on hippocampal function have not yet been studied. materials and methods: fractionated whole brain irradiation with a total dose of 36 gy was performed according to the following protocols: 2gy-18 fractions (2gy*18), 4gy-9 fraction (...

........................................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Overview of the thesis. .............................................................................................

Enhancement of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signalling has great potential in therapy for neurological and psychiatric disorders. This neurotrophin not only attenuates cell death but also promotes neuronal plasticity and function. However, an important challenge to this approach is the persistence of aberrant neurotrophic signalling due to a defective function of the BDNF high-affin...

Recently, adipobiology (adiposcience) became a focus of numerous studies showing that the adipose tissue is the body's largest endocrine and paracrine organ producing multiple signaling proteins collectively designated adipokines; at present these include more than hundred proteins. However, studies on adipobiology of neurotrophins have recently emerged, nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-deri...

Neurodevelopmental aberrations influenced by neurotrophic factors are among the important paradigms to understand schizophrenia pathogenesis. Among various neurotrophic factors, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is strongly implicated by previous research studies. Evaluating co-morbidity free, antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients for BDNF levels and examining the correlates of this...

Neurotrophic factor expression in the adult mammalian CNS is largely neuronal. However, upon traumatic injury reactive astrocytes express a number of neurotrophic factors including ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and NGF. In this study, we examined whether the upregulation of neurotrophic factors in reactive astrocytes and cultured astrocytes is a consequence...