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Abstract
Recent advances in the understanding of the physiological role of nerve growth factor
(NGF) have raised the question of whether neurotrophic factors might have clinical
potential in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease or nerve trauma. Although
NGF was first characterized as a target-derived survival factor for developing sympathetic
and sensory neurons, it is now clear that it plays an important role in the maintenance
and regeneration of mature peripheral neurons. However, the highly restricted specificity
of NGF for sympathetic neurons, subpopulations of neural-crest-derived sensory neurons,
and striatal and basal forebrain cholinergic neurons has, for almost two decades,
stimulated the search for other neurotrophic factors that might act on the many classes
of neurons that do not respond to NGF. In this article, the biology of the recently
discovered NGF-related family of neurotrophic factors and ciliary neurotrophic factor
and their receptors are reviewed, especially in the context of the therapeutic potential
of these factors in the treatment of neurological disorders of the CNS.