[The role of TrkC receptor and neurotrophin 3 in the development and function of neural cells].

Neurotrophin 3 (NT-3) plays an important role in the development of the nervous system as well as in mediating the survival of neurons in the adult nervous system. NT-3 functions by preferential binding to the cell surface receptor TrkC as well as by binding TrkA, TrkB, and p75(NTR), with lower affinity. Various isoforms of TrkC are generated by alternative splicing. This constitutes, together with ectodomain shedding, an extensive means of regulating TrkC signaling pathways to modulate the effects of NT-3 on target cells during the differentiation of neural cells.