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Nature 401, 862-863 (28 October 1999) | doi:10.1038/44727

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Neurobiology: Exciting neurotrophins

Benedikt Berninger1 & Mu-ming Poo1

The neurotrophins are a family of secreted proteins named after their ability to regulate the survival and differentiation of nerve cells ('neuron' means nerve and 'trophe' means nutrient). But there is also evidence1 that neurotrophins are involved in the processes underlying neuronal plasticity — in particular, they cause rapid changes in both the shape and physiology of nerve cells2.

  1. Benedikt Berninger and Mu-ming Poo are in the Department of Biology, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0357, USA.

Correspondence to: Mu-ming Poo1 e-mail: Email: mpoo@biomail.ucsd.edu