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Role of Neurotrophins in the Development and Function of Neural Circuits That Regulate Energy Homeostasis

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Abstract

Members of the neurotrophin family, including nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3, and neurotrophin-4/5, and other neurotrophic growth factors such as ciliary neurotrophic factor and artemin, regulate peripheral and central nervous system development and function. A subset of the neurotrophin-dependent pathways in the hypothalamus, brainstem, and spinal cord, and those that project via the sympathetic nervous system to peripheral metabolic tissues including brown and white adipose tissue, muscle and liver, regulate feeding, energy storage, and energy expenditure. We briefly review the role that neurotrophic growth factors play in energy balance, as regulators of neuronal survival and differentiation, neurogenesis, and circuit formation and function, and as inducers of critical gene products that control energy homeostasis.

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Acknowledgments

This minireview summarizes, in part, findings presented at the GPCR Satellite Symposium, 20th Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for Neuroscience, held in Eilat, Israel in 2011. Research in the authors’ laboratory is supported by grants from the NIH, Diabetes Action and Education Foundation, and the Hope for Depression Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fishberg Department of Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Samira Fargali, Masato Sadahiro, Cheng Jiang, Amy L. Frick, Tricia Indall, Valeria Cogliani, Jelle Welagen, Wei-Jye Lin & Stephen R. Salton

  2. Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Stephen R. Salton

  3. Friedman Brain Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Stephen R. Salton

  4. Department of Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1065, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Stephen R. Salton

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  1. Samira Fargali
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  2. Masato Sadahiro
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  9. Stephen R. Salton
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Correspondence to Stephen R. Salton.

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Fargali, S., Sadahiro, M., Jiang, C. et al. Role of Neurotrophins in the Development and Function of Neural Circuits That Regulate Energy Homeostasis. J Mol Neurosci 48, 654–659 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-012-9790-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-012-9790-9

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