Neuregulin-1 type III is a key regulator in Schwann cell proliferation, committing to a myelinating fate and regulating myelin sheath thickness. However, the expression pattern of neuregulin-1 type III in the peripheral nervous system during developmental periods (such as the premyelinating stage, myelinating stage and postmyelinating stage) has rarely been studied. In this study, dorsal root g...

The development of functional Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels (K(Ca)) in chick ciliary ganglion (CG) neurons requires interactions with afferent preganglionic nerve terminals. Here we show that the essential preganglionic differentiation factor is an isoform of beta-neuregulin-1. beta-Neuregulin-1 transcripts are expressed in the midbrain preganglionic Edinger-Westphal nucleus at developmental s...

Gliomas are the most frequently diagnosed adult primary brain malignancy. These tumors have a tendency to invade diffusely into the surrounding healthy brain tissue, thereby precluding their successful surgical removal. In this report, we examine the potential for the neuregulin-1/erbB receptor signaling network to contribute to this process by modulating glioma cell motility. Neuregulin-1 is e...

At neuromuscular synapses, neural agrin (n-agrin) stabilizes embryonic postsynaptic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clusters by signalling through the muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) complex. Live imaging of cultured myotubes showed that the formation and disassembly of primitive AChR clusters is a dynamic and reversible process favoured by n-agrin, and possibly other synaptic signals. Neuregulin-1...

Inflammation is often accompanied by robust angiogenesis. Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) express erbB receptors and their ligand, neuregulin-1, and can respond to neuregulin by proliferation and angiogenesis. We hypothesized that some growth factor-like responses of ECs to inflammatory cytokines can be explained by cleavage of transmembrane neuregulin with subsequent release of its extracellu...

Neuregulins comprise a family of epidermal growth factor-like ligands that interact with ErbB receptor tyrosine kinases to control many aspects of neural development. One of the most dramatic effects of neuregulin-1 is on glial cell differentiation. The membrane-bound neuregulin-1 type III isoform is an axonal ligand for glial ErbB receptors that regulates the early Schwann cell lineage, includ...