Neonatal nerve growth factor treatment alters the preganglionic innervation pattern of rat superior cervical ganglion.

We treated rat pups with nerve growth factor (10 micrograms/animal/day s.c.) over postnatal days 1-7. Subsequent adult neuron numbers and tyrosine hydroxylase content in superior cervical ganglion were normal, but preganglionic inputs, as gauged from ganglionic choline acetyltransferase, were reduced. In parallel, intraganglionic axon terminals containing calcitonin gene-related peptide, but not those containing substance P, were increased in number. We postulate that neonatal nerve growth factor stimulates sprouting of ingrowing axons that have entered the ganglion soon after birth and that this represses subsequent establishment of cholinergic preganglionic synapses.