Editorial: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Neurotrophin Function in the Nervous System

VON BOHLEN UND HALBACH, OLIVER; BEKINSCHTEIN, PEDRO

Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Frontiers

Lugar: Lausanne; Año: 2020 vol. 14

The discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) by Rita Levi-Montalcini in the 1950s represents an important milestone in the processes that led to modern cell biology (Aloe, 2004). NGF is a member of the neurotrophin family. Neurotrophins are a family of proteins that regulate development, maintenance, and function of vertebrate nervous systems. They serve as survival factors to ensure a match between the number of surviving neurons and the requirement for appropriate target innervation and also regulate cell fate decisions, axon growth, dendrite pruning, the patterning of innervation and the expression of proteins crucial for normal neuronal function, such as neurotransmitters and ion channels. They signal through specific tyrosine kinase receptor (trkA, trkB, trkC) and the low affinity receptor p75NTR. Moreover, the precursors of the neurotrophins (?pro-neurotrophins?) are discussed to be biologically active by signaling through specific receptors. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), NGF and the neurotrophins 3 and 4 (NT3, NT4) as well as their precursors (pro-neurotrophins) are not only expressed during development, but also in the postnatal brain.