Nerve Growth Factor and Related Proteins
The purification of the nerve growth factor (NGF) protein to homogeneity allowed for the subsequent characterization of the remainder of the neurotrophin (NT) family of growth factors and their cognate receptors. The juxtaposition of elegant protein bioch
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Nerve Growth Factor and Related Proteins
J. Regino Perez‐Polo
1 Introduction: Discovery of NGF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 The NGF Bioassay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3 The Neurotrophic Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 NGF Protein Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5 The NT Receptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6 Biological Activity of NTs: Specificity and Plasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006
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Nerve growth factor and related proteins
Abstract: The purification of the nerve growth factor (NGF) protein to homogeneity allowed for the subsequent characterization of the remainder of the neurotrophin (NT) family of growth factors and their cognate receptors. The juxtaposition of elegant protein biochemistry and insightful tissue culture approaches to the elucidation of the developmental sequelae responsible for selective innervation and neuronal number regulation led to an understanding of cell death processes and neuronal plasticity in response to growth factor cues and later to trauma to the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS). An understanding of the key evolution of these concepts is rooted in large measure in the character of the early pioneering investigators in the neurotrophin (NT) field. List of Abbreviations: BDNF, brain‐derived neurotrophic factor; DRG, dorsal root ganglia; NGF, nerve growth factor; NT, neurotrophin
1 Introduction: Discovery of NGF While the concept of growth factors as proteins responsible for the survival and proliferation of cells is common to the cancer and immunology fields, its analog in the neurosciences can easily be traced to the discovery and early characterization of the nerve growth factor (NGF) protein, the founding member of the neurotrophin (NT) family of proteins. The NGF and related NTs not only play roles in the cell survival of neurons but also in their migration, neurite elongation, neurotransmitter expression, and synaptic maturation both in the developmental process and in the maintenance of phenotypes specific to well‐defined areas of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS). Also, while NGF activity was originally described as neuronal‐specific, the presence of NGF receptors on nonneuronal glial and immune‐like cells and the subsequent
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