Stimulation of nerve growth factor synthesis/secretion by propentofylline in cultured mouse astroglial cells.

The xanthine derivative propentofylline has been reported to exhibit protective effects on neuronal cells in the brain, which include improvement of impaired learning and memory and protection against delayed ischemically-induced neuronal cell death in the hippocampal CA1 subfield. To investigate the mechanism of action of this drug, we examined its effect on nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis in cultured mouse astroglial cells because NGF is known to function as a neurotrophic molecule that is required to maintain neuronal activities. The drug was found to increase the NGF content in the conditioned medium to a level over ten times that of the control. This result suggests that the action of propentofylline in the brain includes stimulation of synthesis/secretion of NGF in astroglial cells.