Nerve growth factor promotes survival
of new neurons in the adult hippocampus

by
Frielingsdorf H, Simpson DR, Thal LJ, Pizzo DP. Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0624, USA; Neurology Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Diego, 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA 92161, USA; Section for Neuronal Survival, Department for Neurobiology, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, BMC A-10, Lund University, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden.
Neurobiol Dis. 2006 Dec 20;


ABSTRACT

Exogenously provided NGF enhances cognitive performance in impaired rodents and humans and is currently a promising compound for the treatment of dementia. To investigate whether NGF-dependent cognitive improvement may be due in part to increased hippocampal neurogenesis, adult and aged male rats were treated with NGF or vehicle intracerebroventricularly for 6 or 20 days followed by evaluation of cholinergic parameters and hippocampal neurogenesis. We show that NGF increases hippocampal cholinergic activity as rapidly as 3 days after initiation of treatment. NGF treatment for 6 days did not affect proliferation of progenitor cells in the dentate gyrus granule cell layer (GCL). However, continuous NGF infusion enhanced survival of new neurons in the GCL of young adult, but not aged rats. Taken together, these findings suggest that NGF, likely mediated through increased cholinergic tone, promotes neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus, which may relate to the nootropic action of NGF.

Caffeine
Exercise
Guarana
Ampakines
Blueberries
New brain cells
Centrophenoxine
The memory switch?
Dumb-drug euphoria



Refs
and further reading

HOME
HedWeb
Nootropics
cocaine.wiki
Future Opioids
BLTC Research
MDMA/Ecstasy
Superhapiness?
Utopian Surgery?
The Abolitionist Project
The Hedonistic Imperative
The Reproductive Revolution
Critique of Huxley's Brave New World

The Good Drug Guide
The Good Drug Guide

The Responsible Parent's Guide
To Healthy Mood Boosters For All The Family