Effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) in rats with basal forebrain lesions.
Effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) on the basal forebrain (BF) lesion-induced amnesia in rats were investigated. When NGF infusion was begun immediately after the formation of BF lesions, NGF ameliorated amnesia in a water maze task and showed a tendency to increase choline acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in the fronto-parietal cortex. The amnesia and the decrease of CAT activity were not ameliorated when NGF infusion was begun 4 weeks after BF lesion formation. These observations suggest that NGF may act as a trophic and/or a protective factor on partially damaged cholinergic neurons and that the efficacy of NGF was influenced by the phase of neuronal damage.
Ogawa
S
S
Department of Chemical Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan.
Nabeshima
T
T
Kameyama
T
T
Hayashi
K
K
D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques
D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase