Background: Pivotal roles of Nerve growth factor (NGF) in the development and survival of both neuronal and non-neuronal cells indicate its potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. However, investigation of NGF deficits in different diseases requires the availability of properly folded human b-NGF. In previous studies bacterial expression of hNGF demonstrated the feasibility o...

The nerve growth factor (NGF) N-terminus peptide, NGF(1-14), and its acetylated form, Ac-NGF(1-14), were investigated to scrutinize the ability of this neurotrophin domain to mimic the whole protein. Theoretical calculations demonstrated that non-covalent forces assist the molecular recognition of TrkA receptor by both peptides. Combined parallel tempering/docking simulations discriminated the ...

The j3 nerve growth factor (NGF) isolated from the high molecular weight 7 S NGF complex from mouse submaxillary gland is a protein of molecular weight 26,500 which contains two noncovalently associated peptide chains. A variety of techniques were employed to determine whether the NGF dimer dissociates at the low concentrations at which it is biologically active. No dissociation was detected in...

RATIONALE Nerve growth factor (NGF) promotes angiogenesis and cardiomyocyte survival, which are both desirable for postinfarction myocardial healing. Nonetheless, the NGF potential for cardiac repair has never been investigated. OBJECTIVE To define expression and localization of NGF and its high-affinity receptor TrkA (tropomyosin-related receptor A) in the human infarcted heart and to invest...

Although nerve growth factor (NGF) promotes survival of neurons, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) contributes to cell death triggered by NGF depletion, through TNF-alpha receptor (TNFR) 1. In contrast to this effect, TNF-alpha can promote neural cell survival via TNF-alpha receptor TNFR2. Although these findings demonstrate pivotal roles of TNF-alpha and NGF in cell fate decisions, cross...

Although nerve growth factor (NGF) promotes survival of neurons, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) contributes to cell death triggered by NGF depletion, through TNFreceptor (TNFR) 1. In contrast to this effect, TNFcan promote neural cell survival via TNFreceptor TNFR2. Although these findings demonstrate pivotal roles of TNFand NGF in cell fate decisions, cross-talk between these signaling pathways h...