Journal ArticleDOI
Amelioration of cholinergic neuron atrophy and spatial memory impairment in aged rats by nerve growth factor.
Walter Fischer,Klas Wictorin,Anders Björklund,Lawrence R. Williams,Silvio Varon,Fred H. Gage +5 more
TLDR
Continuous intracerebral infusion of NGF over a period of four weeks can partly reverse the cholinergic cell body atrophy and improve retention of a spatial memory task in behaviourally impaired aged rats.Abstract:
In aged rodents, impairments in learning and memory have been associated with an age-dependent decline in forebrain of cholinergic function, and recent evidence indicates that the cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis, the septal-diagonal band area and the striatum undergo age-dependent atrophy. Thus, as in Alzheimer-type dementia in man, degenerative changes in the forebrain cholinergic system may contribute to age-related cognitive impairments in rodents. The cause of these degenerative changes is not known. Recent studies have shown that the central cholinergic neurons in the septal-diagonal band area, nucleus basalis and striatum are sensitive to the neurotrophic protein nerve growth factor (NGF). In particular, intraventricular injections or infusions of NGF in young adult rats have been shown to prevent retrograde neuronal cell death and promote behavioural recovery after damage to the septo-hippocampal connections. It is so far not known, however, whether the atrophic cholinergic neurons in aged animals are responsive to NGF treatment. We report here that continuous intracerebral infusion of NGF over a period of four weeks can partly reverse the cholinergic cell body atrophy and improve retention of a spatial memory task in behaviourally impaired aged rats.read more
Citations
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Book ChapterDOI
[7] – Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Lesions and Complete Transection of Septal–Hippocampal Pathway
Journal ArticleDOI
An acceleration of age-related increases in levels of the β-subunit of nerve growth factor in selected tissues from senescence-accelerated mice (SAM-P/8)
TL;DR: The present results indicate that, in SAM-P/8, the elevation in levels of β-NGF in the thymus, adrenal gland, testis, and hypophysis occurs in the early period of life compared to the control mice.
Book ChapterDOI
Neurotrophic factor-induced presynaptic morphological and functional changes of the cortical cholinergic input.
TL;DR: Investigations into the effects of endogenously produced or exogenously applied neurotrophic agents in the adult, fully differentiated CNS suggest that different sets of CNS neurons, perhaps independent of the type of transmitter(s) produced by them, are susceptible to the trophic actions of Endogenously generated factors thereby favouring the idea that trophics factors might play a natural role in reparative attempts of the adult CNS.
Modelos experimentales de neurodegeneración: Tratamiento restaurativo y factor de crecimiento nervioso
Lourdes Lorigados Pedre,Nancy Pavón Fuentes,Teresa Serrano Sánchez,Lisette Blanco Lescano,William Almaguer Melián,Ivette Fernández Verdecia,Raúl Macías González,Karelys de la Cuétara Bernal,Lázara Castillo Díaz,Lisis Martínez Martí,María de los Ángeles Robinson Agramonte,Jorge Alberto Bergado Rosado +11 more
TL;DR: The nerve growth factor (NGF) content was evaluated in three experimental models: hemiparkinsonian rats, striatal lesion rats (quinolinic acid) and old rats with cognitive deficit; as well as in patient with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
References
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TL;DR: Biochemical, electrophysiological, and pharmacological evidence supporting a role for cholinergic dysfunction in age-related memory disturbances is critically reviewed and an attempt has been made to identify pseudoissues, resolve certain controversies, and clarify misconceptions that have occurred in the literature.
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Journal ArticleDOI
Nerve growth factor promotes survival of septal cholinergic neurons after fimbrial transections
TL;DR: It is suggested that fimbrial transections resulted in retrograde degeneration of cholinergic septo-hippocampal neurons and that NGF treatment strongly attenuated this lesion-induced degeneration.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nerve growth factor treatment after brain injury prevents neuronal death
TL;DR: Cholinergic neuronal degeneration after axotomy has been proposed to be due to the loss of a retrogradely transported neurotrophic factor, possibly nerve growth factor (NGF), and NGF was continuously infused into the lateral ventricles of adult rats that had received bilateral lesions of all cholinergic axons projecting from the medial septum to the dorsal hippocampus.