Int. J. Dev. Biol. 39: 855 - 868 (1995)

Vol 39, Issue 5

Special Issue: Developmental Biology in Sweden

Neurotrophins and their receptors in chicken neuronal development

Published: 1 October 1995

F Hallbook, A Bäckström, K Kullander, A Kylberg, R Williams and T Ebendal

Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Biomedial Center, Sweden.

Abstract

A review on current studies of chicken neurotrophins and their receptors is given. Chicken NGF, BDNF and NT-3 have been cloned and sequences have been used to synthesize oligonucleotides for specific localization of expression during development. Also, chicken TrkA, TrkB and TrkC have been cloned, sequenced and studied by in situ hybridization. Recombinant NT-3 was applied to chicken ganglia at different developmental stages to examine acquirement of responsiveness to NT-3 compared to NGF. Phylogenetic analyses of the chicken neurotrophins and Trk receptors were carried out based on parsimony. Finally, some data on apoptosis in chicken embryo sympathetic ganglia are presented.