NGF Signalling and Trafficking | Down syndrome Research | Battens Disease Research

NGF Signaling and Trafficking

Trophic communication between the target and the cell body of neurons has been for a longtime an active subject of research. . Indeed, neurons project axons to target areas that are often far removed from their cell body. Recent advances in molecular biology have highlighted some of the mechanisms and the nature of this phenomenon. Neurotrophic factors are a class of small soluable proteins, known to regulate the development and maintenance of neurons as well as their synaptic contacts. NGF binds and activates its high affinity receptor (TrkA), and recruits a variety of signaling molecules to form a signaling complex that in turn is internalized and subsquently trafficked retrogradely to the neuron soma. The endocytosis of this complex onto an endosomal compartment is thought to be an essential component for propagating the NGF signal from the cell terminals to cell bodies

Our projects investigate nature of NGF-induced endosomes carried from the synapse, at the target area, to the cell body of neurons. We use a peripheral nervous system model using isolated sciatic nerve in chambers, Campanot chambers as well as traditional Pc12 cells.