Function and Mechanism of Action
NGF is critical for the survival and maintenance of sympathetic and sensory neurons. Without it, these neurons undergo apoptosis. Nerve growth factor causes axonal growth. Studies have shown that it causes axonal branching and a bit of elongation. NGF binds with at least two classes of receptors: the p75 LNGFR (for "low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor") neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)) and TrkA, a transmembrane tyrosine kinase. Both are associated with neurodegenerative disorders.
NGF binds to high-affinity tyrosine kinase receptor TrkA. This phosphorylates TrkA, which leads to the activation of PI 3 Kinase, ras, and PLC signaling pathways.
There is evidence that NGF circulates throughout the entire body and is important for maintaining homeostasis.
Read more about this topic: Nerve Growth Factor
Famous quotes containing the words function, mechanism and/or action:
““... The state’s one function is to give.
The bud must bloom till blowsy blown
Its petals loosen and are strown;
And that’s a fate it can’t evade
Unless ‘twould rather wilt than fade.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 2 (1962)
“It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work.”
—Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)