Presence and disappearance of nerve growth factor receptors on sensory neurons in culture

[摘要] Theage-dependentpresenceofnervegrowthfactor(NGF)receptorsonneuritesofsensoryneuronsofdorsalrootgangliaremovedfromchicksofdifferentembryonicagesandsubsequentlykeptinculturewithNGFand/orbrainextracthasbeeninvestigatedbyautoradiography.MostoftheneuronsremovedatembryonicDay10(E10),(82–95%)canbelabeledwithiodinatedNGF,irrespectiveofwhethertheyareselectedforsurvivalbymeansofNGF,brainextract,orboth.However,whenneuronsareisolatedfromE16chicksandmaintainedinculturewithbrainextract,onlyabout28%oftheneuronshaveNGFreceptorsatreduceddensity.ThispercentageishigherthanthatexpectedifthenumberofneuronssurvivingwithNGFwouldbeexactlycorrelatedwiththenumberofneuronsdisplayingNGFreceptors:atE16onlyabout5%oftheneuronssurvivewithNGFalone.InordertodetermineifthedecreaseinthenumberofneuronsdisplayingNGFreceptorsalsooccursinvitro,E10neuronswereculturedforvariousperiodsoftimeeitherwithNGForbrainextract.MostoftheneuronsgrownwithNGFdonotlosetheirNGFreceptors.Incontrast,themajorityoftheneuronsgrowninthepresenceofbrainextractlosetheirreceptors:after6daysinculture,onlyabout25%oftheneuronscanbelabeledwithNGF.Itisconcludedthatinvitro,amaturationwithregardtotheNGFreceptoroccursinthepresenceofbrainextractsimilartothatobservedinvivo.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）