Communication between Target Organs and Nerve Cells: Retrograde Axonal Transport and Site of Action of Nerve Growth Factor (original) (raw)

1. M. E. Schwab,
2. R. Heumann, and
3. H. Thoenen
4. Department of Neurochemistry, Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry, D-8033 Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany

Excerpt

It is now well established that target tissues have an essential trophic influence on their innervating neurons. The concept of such retrograde trophic actions evolved from observations made by experimental embryologists at the beginning of this century, when they showed that the size of the field of innervation determines the extent of development of the corresponding spinal sensory and motor neurons of amphibia and chick embryos (Shorey 1909; Detwiler 1920; Hamburger 1934). More recently, similar observations were made concerning the peripheral sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, when it was demonstrated that the presence or absence of target organs determines the extent to which the innervating autonomic neurons survive or degenerate (Landmesser and Pilar 1974; Dibner and Black 1976; see also Varon and Bunge 1978).

To analyze the mechanism of the trophic action of the periphery, transplantation experiments were performed which demonstrated that the tissues themselves, rather than the site to...