Molecules Involved in Trophic Neuron-Neuron Interaction

Long-term maintenance of neurons and their target cells is mediated by trophic molecules delivered through anterograde and retrograde axonal flow to the respective destinations. While trophic anterograde mechanisms by which, e.g., a neuron can interfere with the differentiation of its target cells are only beginning to be explored (Anderson and Fambrough 1983; Sames et al. 1984), retrograde trophic effects have been studied in great detail using nerve growth factor (NGF), the best established neurotrophic protein, as a paradigm (Levi-Montalcini 1987).