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Neurotrophic Factors in Spinal Cord Injury

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Neurotrophic Factors

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 220))

Abstract

A major challenge in repairing the injured spinal cord is to assure survival of damaged cells and to encourage regrowth of severed axons. Because neurotrophins are known to affect these processes during development, many experimental approaches to improving function of the injured spinal cord have made use of these agents, particularly Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3). More recently, neurotrophins have also been shown to affect the physiology of cells and synapses in the spinal cord. The effect of neurotrophins on circuit performance adds an important dimension to their consideration as agents for repairing the injured spinal cord. In this chapter we discuss the role of neurotrophins in promoting recovery after spinal cord injury from both a structural and functional perspective.

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Acknowledgment

The authors’ research was supported by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and a grant from the National Institutes of Health (5 R01 NS 16996).

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  1. Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-5230, USA

    Vanessa S. Boyce & Lorne M. Mendell

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  1. Vanessa S. Boyce
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  2. Lorne M. Mendell
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Correspondence to Lorne M. Mendell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany

    Gary R. Lewin

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

    Bruce D. Carter

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Boyce, V.S., Mendell, L.M. (2014). Neurotrophic Factors in Spinal Cord Injury. In: Lewin, G., Carter, B. (eds) Neurotrophic Factors. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 220. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-45106-5_16

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