title: Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1): a neuroprotective trophic factor acting via the Akt kinase pathway.
abstract: Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a pleiotropic polypeptide with a wide range of actions in both central and peripheral nervous sytems. Over the past few years, we studied the trophic as well as neuromodulatory roles of IGF-I in the brain. Accumulated evidence indicates that IGF-I, apart from regulating growth and development, protects neurons against cell death induced by amyloidogenic derivatives, glucose or serum deprivation via the activation of intracellular pathways implicating phosphatidylinositide 3/Akt kinase, winged-helix family of transcription factor FKHRL1 phosphorylation or production of free radicals. The effects of IGF-I on neuroprotection, glucose metabolism and activity-dependent plasticity suggest the potential usefulness of this growth factor or related mimetics in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
authors.affiliation: Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doré
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quirion
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt