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Neurotrophic Factors pp 3–15Cite as

NGF, BDNF, NT3, and NT4

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Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 220))

Abstract

The discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) was a seminal event in history of research in developmental neurobiology. The further discovery that NGF was just one of a family of structurally similar growth factors, neurotrophins, provided important insights into the way nerve cells communicate, during development of the nervous system, and in neuroplasticity, memory, and learning in the adult nervous system. Four neurotrophins, NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT3), and neurotrophin-4 (NT4), regulate a wide variety of neural functions, acting upon p75NTR, TrkA, TrkB, and TrkC receptors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    M. Bothwell

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  1. M. Bothwell
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Correspondence to M. Bothwell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany

    Gary R. Lewin

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

    Bruce D. Carter

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Bothwell, M. (2014). NGF, BDNF, NT3, and NT4. In: Lewin, G., Carter, B. (eds) Neurotrophic Factors. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 220. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45106-5_1

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