Neurotrophic factors: repair and regeneration in the central nervous system

Issue title: Novel therapeutics in the nervous system Gene transfers and trophic factors

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Varon, Silvio S. | Conner, James M. | Kuang, Rong-Zhen

Affiliations: Department of Biology 0506, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0506, USA

Note: [] Corresponding author, Tel.: (619) 534 3737; Fax: (619) 534 0128.

Abstract: Neurotrophic factors promote maintenance, repair and regeneration of selected neurons in vitro and in vivo. They include nerve growth factor (NGF) and other neurotrophins, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and other cytokines, and a number of growth factors. Molecular properties of the trophic proteins and their transducing receptors are increasingly well characterized. Interest in the neurotrophic factors has greatly accelerated over the past decade with accumulating evidence that they play important roles in the adult mammalian CNS as well as in its development. Adult in vivo models for degenerative CNS conditions have demonstrated the ability of exogenous neurotrophic factors (NTFs) to protect against neuronal damage induced by traumatic or chemical experimental lesions, particularly with regard to easily identifiable neurons such as cholinergic and dopaminergic ones. Other models have shown beneficial effects of NTF administration with regard to axonal regeneration inside CNS tissue.

Keywords: Neurotrophic factors, Degeneration, Regeneration, CNS neurons

DOI: 10.3233/RNN-1995-81221

Journal: Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, vol. 8, no. 1-2, pp. 85-94, 1995