Summary
The distribution of nerve growth factor-like immunoreactivity has been examined in the embryonic mouse with special reference to the CNS. The intensity of the immunoreactive stain was found to be greatest on embryonic days 15 and 16. The antigen is widespread and present in high concentrations in both the PNS and CNS. Most intense staining was detected in cranial nerve tracts, hippocampus, developing white matter of the spinal cord and tegmentum. Lower intensities were found within diencephalic regions, spinal cord grey matter, medullary fibre tracts and cerebellum. These results support the increasing evidence suggesting that the trophic molecule nerve growth factor has an important role to play in the development of central as well as peripheral neurons.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrahamson, I. K., Ferguson, I. A. &Rush, R. A. (1987)Developmental Biology (in press).
Abrahamson, I. K., Wilson. P. A. &Rush, R. A. (1986) Production and transport of endogenous trophic activity in a peripheral nerve following target removal.Developmental Brain Research 27, 117–26.
Ayer-Lelievre, L. A., Ebendal, T., Olson, S. &Seiger, A. (1983) Localization of nerve growth factor-like immunoreactivity in rat nervous tissue.Medical Biology 61, 293–304.
Benowitz, L. I. &Shashoua, V. E. (1979) Immunoreactive sites for nerve growth factor (NGF) in the goldfish brain.Brain Research 172, 561–5.
Bradford, M. M. (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantification of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding.Analytical Biochemistry 72, 248–54.
Coyle, J. T., Jacobowitz, D., Klein, D. &Axelrod, J. (1973) Dopaminergic neurons in expiants of substantia nigra in culture.Journal of Neurobiology 4, 461–70.
Dreyfus, C. J., Peterson, E. R. &Grain, E. M. (1980) Failure of nerve growth factor to affect fetal mouse brainstem catecholaminergic neurons in culture.Brain Research 914, 540–7.
Finn, P. J., Ferguson, I. A. &Rush, R. A. (1986) Nerve growth factor immunohistochemistry and biological activity in the rat iris.Journal of Neurocytology 15, 169–76.
Gnahn, J., Hefti, F., Heumann, R., Schwab, M. E. &Thoenen, H. (1983) NGF mediated increase of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in neonatal rat forebrain: evidence for a physiological role of NGF in the brain?Developmental Brain Research 9, 45–52.
Hefti, F., Hartikka, J., Eckenstein, F., Gnahn, H., Heumann, R. &Schwab, M. (1985) Nerve growth factor increases choline acetyltransferase but not survival or fibre outgrowth of cultured fetal septal cholinergic neurons.Neuroscience 14, 55–68.
Heumann, R., Korsching, S., Scott, J. &Thoenen, H. (1984) Relationship between levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) and its mes.senger RNA in sympathetic ganglia and peripheral target tissues.European Molecular Biology Organisation Journal 3, 3183–9.
Hill, C. E., Hendry, I. A., Ngu, M. C. &Van Helden, D. F. (1985) Subpopulations of sympathetic neurons differ in their sensitivity to nerve growth factor antiserum.Brain Research 355, 121–30.
Johnson, E. M., Rich, K. M. &Yip, H. K. (1986) The role of NGF in sensory neuronsin vivo.Trends in Neuroscience 9, 33–7.
Konkol, R. J., Mailman, R. B., Bendeich, E. G., Garrison, A. M., Muller, R. A. &Breese, G. R. (1978) Evaluation of the effects of nerve growth factor and anti-nerve growth factor on the development of central catecholamine-containing neurons.Brain Research 144, 277–85.
Korsching, A., Auburger, G., Heumann, R., Scott, J. &Thoenen, H. (1985) Levels of nerve growth factor and its mRNA in the central nervous system of the rat correlate with cholinergic innervation.European Molecular Biology Organisation Journal 4, 1389–93.
Leary, J. L., Grigati, D. J. &Ward, D. C. (1983) Rapid and sensitive colorimetric method for visualizing biotinlabeled DNA probes hybridized to DNA or RNA immobilized on nitrocellulose: bio-blots.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 80, 4045–9.
Levi-Montalcini, R. &Angeletti, P. N. (1968) Immunosympathectomy.Pharmacological Reviews 18, 619–28.
Mobley, W. C., Rutkowski, J. L., Tennekoon, G. I., Buchanan, K. &Johnson, M. V. (1985) Choline acetyltransferase activity in striatum of neonatal rats increased by nerve growth factor.Science 229, 284–7.
Mobley, W. C., Schenker, A. &Shooter, E. M. (1976) Characterization and isolation of proteolytically modified nerve growth factor.Biochemistry 15, 5543–51.
Olson, L., Ebendal, T. &Seiger, A. (1979) NGF and anti-NGF: evidence against effects of fibre growth on locus coeruleus from cultures of perinatal CNS tissue.Developmental Neuroscience 2, 160–76.
Raivich, G., Zimmermann, A. &Sutter, A. (1985) The spatial and temporal pattern of B-NGF receptor egression in the developing chick embryo.European Molecular Biology Organisation Journal 4, 637–44.
Rennert, P. D. &Heinrich, G. (1986) Nerve growth factor mRNA in brain: localization byin situ hybridization.Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 138, 813–18.
Riopelle, R. J. &Richardson, P. M. (1985) Uptake of nerve growth factor along peripheral and spinal axons of primary sensory neurons.Journal of Neuroscience 4, 1683–9.
Rush, R. A. (1984) Immunohistochemical localization of endogenous nerve growth factor.Nature 312, 364–7.
Schwab, M. E., Otten, U., Agio, Y. &Thoenen, H. (1979) Nerve growth factor (NGF) in the rat CNS: absence of specific retrograde axonal transport and tyrosine hydroxylase induction in locus coeruleus and substantia nigra.Brain Research 168, 473–83.
Seiler, M. &Schwab, M. E. (1984) Specific retrograde transport of nerve growth factor (NGF) from neocortex to nucleus basalis in the rat.Brain Research 300, 33–9.
Stefanini, M., De Martino, C. &Zamboni, L. (1967) Fixation of ejaculated spermatozoa for electron microscopy.Nature 26, 173–4.
Stoekel, K., Gagnon, K., Guroff, G. &Thoenen, H. (1976) Purification of nerve growth factor antibodies by affinity chromatography.Journal of Neurochemistry 26, 1207–11.
Straznicky, C. &Rush, R. A. (1985) Nerve growth factor treatment does not prevent dorsal root ganglia cell death induced by target removal in chick embryos.Anatomy and Embryology 171, 357–63.
Taniuchi, M., Schweitzer, J. B. &Johnson, E. M. (1986) Nerve growth factor receptor molecules in rat brain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 83, 1950–4.
Thoenen, H. &Barde, Y. A. (1980) Physiology of nerve growth factor.Physiological Reviews 60, 1284–335.
Watson, A. Y., Anderson, J. K., Siminoski, K., Mole, J. E. &Murphy, R. A. (1985) Cellular and subcellular colocalization of nerve growth factor and epidermal growth factor in mouse submandibular glands.Anatomical Record 213, 365–76.
Whittemore, S. R., Ebendal, T., Larkfors, L., Olson, L., Seiger, A., Stromberg, I. &Persson, H. (1986) Developmental and regional expression of B nerve growth factor messenger RNA and protein in the rat central nervous system.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 83, 817–21.
Wilson, P. A., Scott, J., Pennschow, J., Coghlan, J. &Rush, R. A. (1986) Identification and quantification of mRNA for nerve growth factor in histological preparations.Neuroscience Letters 64, 323–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Finn, P.J., Ferguson, I.A., Wilson, P.A. et al. Immunohistochemical evidence for the distribution of nerve growth factor in the embryonic mouse. J Neurocytol 16, 639–647 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01637656
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01637656