Nature Neuroscience
2, 307 - 308 (1999)
doi:10.1038/7214
Nerve growth factor acts via retinoic acid synthesis to stimulate neurite
outgrowthJonathan Corcoran
& Malcolm Maden
Developmental Biology Research Centre, The Randall Institute, King's College London, 26−29 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5RL, UK
Correspondence should be addressed to Jonathan Corcoran udli155@box.cc.kcl.ac.ukNerve growth factor (NGF) stimulates neurite outgrowth from cultured adult
dorsal root ganglia (DRG)1, and the vitamin A derivative all-trans-retinoic acid (tRA) induces neurite outgrowth from various embryonic
sources, including DRG2,
3. Are such similarities in effects
of NGF and tRA because they are both components of the same genetic cascade
leading to neurite outgrowth? tRA upregulates low-and high-affinity NGF receptors3,
4 and induces the transcription of NGF itself5, suggesting
that tRA may be upstream of NGF, but we show the converse, namely, that NGF
is upstream of tRA.
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