Mobley W C, Rutkowski J L, Tennekoon G I, Gemski J, Buchanan K, Johnston M V
Brain Res. 1986 Jul;387(1):53-62. doi: 10.1016/0169-328x(86)90020-3.
Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neuronotrophic protein. Its effects on developing peripheral sensory and sympathetic neurons have been extensively characterized, but it is not clear whether NGF plays a role during the development of central nervous system neurons. To address this point, we examined the effect of NGF on the activity of neurotransmitter enzymes in several brain regions. Intracerebroventricular injections of highly purified mouse NGF had a marked effect on the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), a selective marker of cholinergic neurons. NGF elicited prominent increases in ChAT activity in the basal forebrain of neonatal rats, including the septum and a region which contains neurons of the nucleus basalis and substantia innominata. NGF also increased ChAT activity in the hippocampus and neocortex, terminal regions for the fibers of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. In analogy with the response of developing peripheral neurons, the NGF effect was shown to be selective for basal forebrain cholinergic cells and to be dose-dependent. Furthermore, septal neurons closely resembled sympathetic neurons in the time course of their response to NGF. These observations suggest that endogenous NGF does play a role in the development of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons.
神经生长因子（NGF）是一种神经营养蛋白。它对发育中的外周感觉神经元和交感神经元的作用已得到广泛研究，但尚不清楚NGF在中枢神经系统神经元发育过程中是否发挥作用。为了解决这一问题，我们研究了NGF对几个脑区神经递质酶活性的影响。脑室内注射高度纯化的小鼠NGF对胆碱能神经元的选择性标志物胆碱乙酰转移酶（ChAT）的活性有显著影响。NGF引起新生大鼠基底前脑ChAT活性显著增加，包括隔区以及包含基底核和无名质神经元的区域。NGF还增加了海马体和新皮质中的ChAT活性，这是基底前脑胆碱能神经元纤维的终末区域。与发育中的外周神经元的反应类似，NGF的作用显示出对基底前脑胆碱能细胞具有选择性且呈剂量依赖性。此外，隔区神经元在对NGF反应的时间进程上与交感神经元非常相似。这些观察结果表明内源性NGF确实在基底前脑胆碱能神经元的发育中发挥作用。
