Neurotrophins secreted by the postsynaptic target cell may participate in activity-dependent synaptic modification during development and in the mature brain. A fundamental question of how neurotrophins can sculpt synaptic connections is whether neurotrophin-induced synaptic changes are spatially restricted to the site of neurotrophin secretion or whether they can spread to neighboring synapses...

Recent studies have established that neurotrophin synthesis and secretion are regulated by activity and that these factors are involved in activity-dependent processes in the nervous system. Neurotrophins also are known to induce increases in intracellular calcium, a trigger for regulated secretion. This finding raises the possibility that neurotrophins themselves may stimulate regulated secret...

BACKGROUND Stem cells from Human Exfoliated Deciduous teeth (SHED) have the capability to differentiate into neural cells. Neurotrophins including Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) have neurogenesis, neurotrophic, or neuroprotective effects and are expressed in developing teeth. The aim of this study was to meas...

In this study, we examined the expression of neurotrophins in mouse lymphocytes and the regulation of their expression by mitogens and neurotransmitters. We found that mixed splenocytes as well as T and B lymphocytes expressed mRNA for all the neurotrophins examined. Differential regulation of the neurotrophins was obtained upon stimulation of the cells. Thus, LPS increased the expression of NG...

Immunohistochemical distribution and cellular localization of neurotrophins was investigated in adult monkey brains using antisera against nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and neurotrophin-4 (NT-4). Western blot analysis showed that each antibody specifically recognized appropriate bands of approximately 14.7 kDa, 14.2 kDa, 13.6 kDa, an...

nature neuroscience • volume 2 no 4 • april 1999 Activity-dependent synaptic modifications are crucial to the normal development and function of the nervous system, but the basic underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Recently, it has been proposed that activity-dependent synaptic plasticity may involve a family of secreted proteins known as neurotrophins1–5. Neurotrophins were initial...

Neurotrophins have been proposed to mediate several forms of activity-dependent competition in the central nervous system. A key element of such hypotheses is that neurotrophins act preferentially on active neurons; however, little direct evidence supports this postulate. We therefore examined, in ferret cortical brain slices, the interactions between activity and neurotrophins in regulating de...

Neurotrophins play a crucial role in the differentiation, maintenance, and survival of various types of peripheral and central neurons. However, the therapeutic use of neurotrophins is limited by their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier and their instability in the bloodstream. One of the promising approaches to utilize neurotrophic actions of these molecules in the therapy of neurodege...

Organotypic cerebellar cultures derived from newborn mice were simultaneously exposed to activity-blocking agents and neurotrophins for 2 weeks. Activity-blocked explants treated with the TrkB receptor ligands BDNF and neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) developed a full complement of Purkinje cell inhibitory axosomatic synapses, as defined ultrastructurally, and displayed control spontaneous cortical discha...