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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Neurotrophins: roles in neuronal development and function.
Eric J. Huang,Louis F. Reichardt +1 more
TL;DR: Neurotrophins regulate development, maintenance, and function of vertebrate nervous systems, and control synaptic function and synaptic plasticity, while continuing to modulate neuronal survival.
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Running enhances neurogenesis, learning, and long-term potentiation in mice
TL;DR: The results indicate that physical activity can regulate hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and learning.
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Neural consequences of environmental enrichment.
TL;DR: This article focuses on the neuronal changes that occur in response to complex stimulation by an enriched environment and emphasizes the behavioural and neurobiological consequences of specific elements of enrichment, especially exercise and learning.
Journal ArticleDOI
Physiology of the neurotrophins
Gary R. Lewin,Yves-Alain Barde +1 more
TL;DR: Rapid actions of neurotrophin-3 on synaptic efficacy, as well as the regulation of their mRNAs by electrical activity, suggest that neurotrophins might play important roles in regulating neuronal connectivity in the developing and in the adult central nervous system.
Journal ArticleDOI
Neurotrophin-3: a neurotrophic factor related to NGF and BDNF
Maisonpierre Peter C,Leonardo Belluscio,Stephen P. Squinto,Nancy Y. Ip,Mark E. Furth,Ronald M. Lindsay,George D. Yancopoulos +6 more
TL;DR: The distribution of NT-3 messenger RNA and its biological activity on a variety of neuronal populations clearly distinguishNT-3 from NGF and BDNF, and provide compelling evidence that NT- 3 is an authentic neurotrophic factor that has its own characteristic role in vivo.
References
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NGF-Mediated increase of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the neonatal rat forebrain: Evidence for a physiological role of NGF in the brain?
TL;DR: It is concluded that exogenous NGF can affect forebrain cholinergic neurons during their development and does not seem to be identical with an endogenous neurotrophic factor produced by hippocampus or neocortex acting on cholinerential neurons of the forebrain.
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A unifying hypothesis for the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinsonism, and Alzheimer disease
TL;DR: It is presented that each of these disorders is due to lack of a disorder‐specific neurotrophic hormone, and central nervous system tissue culture provides a convenient system in which to assay these neurotrophic hormones and should permit a test of the hypothesis.
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Nerve growth factor increases choline acetyl-transferase but not survival or fiber outgrowth of cultured fetal septal cholinergic neurons
TL;DR: Results indicate that acetylcholinesterase is a reliable marker for cholinergic cells in cultures of dissociated septal neurons, and nerve growth factor elevated the biochemically measured activity of choline acetyltransferase up to two-fold.
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Choline acetyltransferase activity in striatum of neonatal rats increased by nerve growth factor
William C. Mobley,William C. Mobley,JL Rutkowski,Gihan I. Tennekoon,Karen Buchanan,Michael V. Johnston +5 more
TL;DR: Cholinergic neurons in the corpus striatum of neonatal rats were found to respond to intracerebroventricular administration of nerve growth factor with prominent, dose-dependent, selective increases in choline acetyltransferase activity, which may indicate its involvement in the normal function of forebrain cholinergic neuron as well as in neurodegenerative disorders involving such cells.
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Nerve growth factor (NGF) in the rat CNS: Absence of specific retrograde axonal transport and tyrosine hydroxylase induction in locus coeruleus and substantia nigra
TL;DR: Data from the present study suggest a fundamental difference between central and peripheral adrenergic neurons with regard to their responsiveness of NGF.