Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), present in minute amounts in the adult central nervous system, is a member of the nerve growth factor (NGF) family, which includes neurotrophin-3 (NT-3). NGF, BDNF and NT-3 all support survival of subpopulations of neural crest-derived sensory neurons; most sympathetic neurons are responsive to NGF, but not to BDNF; NT-3 and BDNF, but not NGF, promote survival of sensory neurons of the nodose ganglion. BDNF, but not NGF, supports the survival of cultured retinal ganglion cells but both NGF and BDNF promote the survival of septal cholinergic neurons in vitro. However, knowledge of their precise physiological role in development and maintenance of the nervous system neurons is still limited. The BDNF gene is expressed in many regions of the adult CNS, including the striatum. A protein partially purified from bovine striatum, a target of nigral dopaminergic neurons, with characteristics apparently similar to those of BDNF, can enhance the survival of dopaminergic neurons in mesencephalic cultures. BDNF seems to be a trophic factor for mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons, increasing their survival, including that of neuronal cells which degenerate in Parkinson's disease. Here we report the effects of BDNF on the survival of dopaminergic neurons of the developing substantia nigra.

The development and maintenance of the nervous system depends on proteins known as neurotrophic factors. Although the prototypical neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor (NGF), has been intensively studied for decades, the discovery and characterization of additional such factors has been impeded by their low abundance. Sequence homologies between NGF and the recently cloned brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were used to design a strategy that has now resulted in the cloning of a gene encoding a novel neurotrophic factor, termed neurotrophin-3 (NT-3). The distribution of NT-3 messenger RNA and its biological activity on a variety of neuronal populations clearly distinguish NT-3 from NGF and BDNF, and provide compelling evidence that NT-3 is an authentic neurotrophic factor that has its own characteristic role in vivo.

During the initial phase of their development, sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) require target-derived trophic support for their survival, but as they mature they lose this requirement. Because many of these neurons express BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) messenger RNA, we hypothesized that BDNF might act as an autocrine survival factor in adult DRG neurons, thus explaining their lack of dependence on exogenous growth factors. When cultured adult DRG cells were treated with antisense oligonucleotides to BDNF, expression of BDNF protein was reduced by 80%, and neuronal survival was reduced by 35%. These neurons could be rescued by exogenous BDNF or neurotrophin-3, but not by other growth factors. Similar results were obtained with single-neuron microcultures, whereas microcultures derived from mutant mice lacking BDNF were unaffected by antisense oligonucleotides. Our results strongly support an autocrine role for BDNF in mediating the survival of a subpopulation of adult DRG neurons.

Nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) are the three members of the neurotrophin family known to exist in mammals. Recently, a fourth neurotrophin (designated neurotrophin-4 or NT-4), which shares all of the features found in the mammalian neurotrophins, has been identified in Xenopus and viper. We used sequences specific to the Xenopus/viiper NT-4 to isolate a neurotrophin from both human and rat genomic DNA that appears to represent the mammalian counterpart of Xenopus/viper NT-4. Human NT-4 as well as a human NT-4 pseudogene colocalize to chromosome 19 band q13.3. Mammalian NT-4 has many unusual features compared to the previously identified neurotrophins and is less conserved evolutionarily than the other neurotrophins. However, mammalian NT-4 displays bioactivity and trk receptor specificity similar to that of Xenopus NT-4.Nerve growth factor (NGF) is the prototypical member of a family of mammalian neuronal survival and differentiation factors (1), known as the neurotrophins, that also includes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) (2-10). These three neurotrophins are all initially synthesized as larger precursors that are proteolytically cleaved to release the mature neurotrophins. The mature regions of the three neurotrophins display 50-55% amino acid identity to each other, with the major regions of structural similarity bordering six invariant cysteine residues that, in active NGF, have been shown to form three intrachain disulfide bonds.The neurotrophins can be distinguished based on their distinct patterns of spatial and temporal expression (11-15) as well as their differing effects on neuronal targets (3-7). The ability of a cell to respond to a particular neurotrophin appears to be dependent on the presence of the appropriate trk receptor. The three known trk receptors (designated here as trkA, trkB, and trkC) are transmembrane tyrosine protein kinases that specifically bind to the neurotrophins; trkA binds and can be activated by , trkB binds and can mediate functional responses to , and trkC seems relatively specific for .Recently, a fourth neurotrophin (designated neurotrophin-4 or NT-4) has been molecularly cloned from Xenopus (26); a gene segment encoding part of the mature NT-4 from viper was also isolated. Xenopus NT-4 shares all the important features that characterize the mammalian neurotrophins. Here we describe the molecular cloning and characterization of a neurotrophin that apparently corresponds to the mammalian counterpart of Xenopus/viper NT-4. § (The D-number assignment for humNT-4 chromosomal location is D19S202E.)