Journal of neurochemistry
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Journal of neurochemistry · May 1996
Suppression of p140trkA does not abolish nerve growth factor-mediated rescue of serum-free PC12 cells.
Programmed cell death, the intrinsic form of apoptosis, plays an integral role in those neurodegenerative events associated with age-related neuropathology. Neurotrophins (NTs), such as nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and NT-3, are required for survival of certain neurons, and thus their clinical use to counteract age- and pathology-associated neurodegeneration has been suggested, although mechanistic descriptions for NT cell rescue from apoptosis are not definitive. ⋯ Also, although BDNF did not rescue naive serumless PC12 cells, which lack the BDNF-specific TrkB receptor, it significantly increased survival of TrkA-suppressed serum-starved PC12 cells. These data confirm the hypothesis that binding of any NT to Trk-free p75NGFR-bearing cells blocks apoptosis but also suggest that if Trk receptors are expressed, prohibiting Trk phosphorylation also blocks NT-mediated rescue from apoptosis.