Through nearly 40 years of research nerve growth factor (NGF) has become a paradigm for neurotrophic factors. NGF is synthesized and released from innervated target tissues in limiting amounts, thereby regulating the cell number and the differentiated properties of responsive neurones. Three distinct cell types are responsive to NGF: peripheral sensory and sympathetic neurones and certain types of central cholinergic ones. The effects of NGF are mediated through interaction with a specific receptor which activates a transmembrane second-messenger system. NGF synthesis is regulated during development and in the adult animal. In the developing whisker pad, NGF synthesis commences with its sensory innervation, but sensory neurones lack NGF receptors at the stage when their fibres are growing to their target. These findings indicate that NGF does not attract sensory nerve fibres chemotactically to their target fields during development, but is involved in target-controlled neuronal cell death and in regulation of the density of innervation of target tissues. In non-neuronal cells of the sciatic nerve, NGF synthesis is up-regulated during development and after nerve lesion. Thus the changes in NGF levels after lesion in the adult animal are consistent with the hypothesis that the non-neuronal cells relapse into an earlier developmental stage. Regenerating fibres penetrating into the distal nerve stump restore the low adult levels of NGF. Recent evidence indicates that macrophages invading the nerve after transection produce signals which increase NGF synthesis.
In the field: an interview with Harald Wolf
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In our new Conversation, Harald Wolf talks about his fieldwork experiences working with desert ants in Tunisia to understand their navigation.
Propose a new Workshop
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Our Workshops bring together leading experts and early-career researchers from a range of scientific backgrounds. Applications are now open to propose Workshops for 2024, one of which will be held in a Global South country.
Julian Dow steps down and John Terblanche joins the JEB team
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After 15 years with the journal, Julian Dow from University of Glasgow, UK, is stepping down as a Monitoring Editor. We wish Julian all the best for the future and welcome John Terblanche, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who is joining the team. Julian talks about his long association with The Company of Biologists and the journal and John tells us about his life and career in this News article.
The capture of crude oil droplets by filter feeders at high and low Reynolds numbers
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Researchers from the University of Montreal, Canada, reveal how tiny filter feeding barnacles and Daphnia entrap and consume minute droplets of crude oil, introducing the pollutant at the bottom of the food chain.
Patterns and processes in amphibious fish
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In their Review, Keegan Lutek, Cassandra Donatelli and Emily Standen discuss the biomechanics and neural control of terrestrial locomotion in amphibious fish. They explore how locomotor mode depends on body shape, physical constraints and phylogeny.
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