In pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells nerve growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) activate similar receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathways but evoke strikingly different biological outcomes: NGF induces differentiation and EGF acts as a mitogen. A novel approach was developed for identifying transcription factor activities associated with NGF-activated, but not EGF-activated, sig...

Glucocorticoid hormones influence neuronal plasticity during development; however little is known about the mechanisms of this trophic activity. Because glucocorticoids increase nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis in selected brain areas and NGF plays a role in the development of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, we tested the hypothesis that glucocorticoids may foster maturation of the chol...

High levels of NGF have recently been detected in cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and it was suggested that NGF supports cholinergic, basal forebrain neurons. The present study directly examined whether NGF levels are altered in the neonatal hippocampus following cholinergic denervation by transection of the fimbria. Ten days after transection, hippocampal cholinergic innervation, as assessed ...

Introduction: Psychotropic drugs exert their effects, in part, by increasing neurotrophin levels in the brain. Nerve growth factor (NGF) protein levels after treatment with only a limited number of psychotropics have been determined. The present study was designed in order to evaluate the effects of acute and chronic administration of different psychotropic drugs on NGF protein levels in five b...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) promotes neuronal survival and differentiation and stimulates neurite outgrowth. NGF is synthesized as a precursor, proNGF, which undergoes post-translational processing to generate mature $-NGF. It has been assumed that, in vivo, NGF is largely processed into the mature form and that mature NGF accounts for the biological activity. However, we recently showed that pro...

PURPOSE We aimed to evaluate the nerve growth factor (NGF) pathway and its influence on corneal healing mechanisms in normal conditions and in an animal model of corneal denervation induced by capsaicin. METHODS Peripheral sensory damage was induced in rat pups by subcutaneous injection of capsaicin and the effects evaluated by hot-plate test, corneal nerve count, and tear secretion. Corneal ...

Exogenous proteins have been introduced into naive and nerve growth factor (NGF)-primed pheochromocytoma cells by pressure microinjection. Microinjection of cells did affect NGF-induced neurite outgrowth by these cells over periods of up to 3 days. Injected NGF failed to elicit neurite outgrowth or regeneration in the absence of extracellular NGF and failed to enhance it in its presence. Inject...

Introduction: Research has shown that gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can damage the physiological processes of brain tissue. Given the antioxidant properties of gingerol (GING), this study aimed to determine the protective effect of 6-gingerol on hippocampal levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), DNA oxidative damage, and the amount of Bax and Bcl2 apoptosis ...

6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) is often used in models of Parkinson's disease since it can selectively target and kill dopaminergic cells of the substantia nigra. In this study, pre-treatment of PC12 cells with nerve growth factor (NGF) inhibited apoptosis and necrosis by 6-OHDA, including caspase activity and lactate dehydrogenase release. Notably, cells exposed to 6-OHDA in the presence of NGF we...