Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2019, Vol. 14 ›› Issue (10): 1703-1704.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.257518

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Delayed peripheral treatment with neurotrophin-3 improves sensorimotor recovery after central nervous system injury

Sotiris G. Kakanos, Lawrence D.F. Moon   

  1. Neurorestoration Group, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, King’s College of London, London, UK
  • Online:2019-10-15 Published:2019-10-15
  • Contact: Lawrence D.F. Moon, PhD, lawrence.moon@kcl.ac.uk.
  • Supported by:

    This work was funded by the Brain Research Trust, the Rosetrees Trust and the International Spinal Research Trust; a grant from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement n. 309731 and by a Research Councils UK Academic Fellowship and by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the British Pharmacological Society (BPS)’s Integrative Pharmacology Fund; supported by the Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust and a Capacity Building Award in Integrative Mammalian Biology funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BPS, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, MRC and Scottish Funding Council.

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Abstract:

Neurotrophin-3 (NT3) is a growth factor found in many body tissues including the heart, intestines, skin, nervous system and in skeletal muscles including muscle spindles. NT3 is required for the survival, correct connectivity and function of sensory (“proprioceptive”) afferents that innervate muscle spindles; these neurons express receptors for NT3 including tropomyocin receptor kinase C. These proprioceptive afferents are important for normal movement and signals from muscle spindles are important for recovery of limb movement (e.g., after spinal cord lateral hemisection). The level of NT3 declines in most tissues during postnatal development; its level is low in adult and elderly humans and other mammals. Elevation of NT3 has been shown to improve outcome in various animal models of neurological disease and injury. For example, many groups have shown that delivery of NT3 directly into the central nervous system promotes recovery after spinal cord injury but this often involved invasive routes or gene therapy.