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Neurotrophin-3 enhances sprouting of corticospinal tract during development and after adult spinal cord lesion

Nature volume 367, pages 170–173 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

THE number of neurotrophic factors found in the central nervous system is rapidly growing, but their functions in vivo are largely unknown. In the peripheral nervous system they promote the survival of developing and lesioned neurons and enhance nerve fibre growth and regeneration1–6. Here we study the effects of nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) on the largest tract system leading from the brain to the spinal cord, the corticospinal tract (CST)7. The developing CST grows down the spinal cord during the first postnatal days and innervates its targets after a waiting period by collateral sprouting8–10. We find that NT-3 injected locally specifically enhances this sprouting, whereas BDNF has no effect. In adult rats, injection of NT-3 (but not BDNF) into the lesioned spinal cord increases the regenerative sprouting of the transected CST. The distance of growth of the sprouts is very restricted, but application of an antibody that neutralizes myelin-associated neurite growth inhibitory proteins11 results in long-distance regeneration of CST fibres.

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Author notes

  1. Roland Kolbeck and Yves-Alain Barde: Department of Neurobiochemistry, Max-Planek-Institute for Psychiatry, 82152 Martinsried by Munich, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, August Forel-Strasse 1, CH-8029, Zurich, Switzerland

    Lisa Schnell, Regula Schneider, Roland Kolbeck, Yves-Alain Barde & Martin E. Schwab

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  1. Lisa Schnell
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  2. Regula Schneider
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  3. Roland Kolbeck
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  5. Martin E. Schwab
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Schnell, L., Schneider, R., Kolbeck, R. et al. Neurotrophin-3 enhances sprouting of corticospinal tract during development and after adult spinal cord lesion. Nature 367, 170–173 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/367170a0

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