Main description:

More than fifty years after its initial discovery by Rita Levi Montalcini and Stanley Cohen and the proposal of the neurotrophic theory, nerve growth factor (NGF) has become the prototype of a family of biologically active molecules called neurotrophic factors (NTFs).

This book addresses important advances in NTF research, from basic science to clinical medicine. It focuses mainly on NGF, but also includes individual chapters dealing with the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and ligands of the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) family, which have attracted increasing interest in the neuroscience community because of their diverse effects in the normal and diseased brain.

In the first part of the book, the authors provide the necessary background for the following chapters and discuss the basic mechanisms and pathways of NGF signal transduction. In the following sections, they then examine the regenerative activity and neuroprotective capacity of NGF during development and in normal and diseased tissues in adulthood and discuss the role of NGF in Alzheimer's disease and nociception. In addition, the role of NGF in processing sensory information and its influence on behavior is further discussed. The book concludes with an overview of the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of NTF in psychiatric disorders and obesity management, as well as a highlight of NGF research in veterinary medicine.

Many of the authors of this volume participated in the Second International Rita Levi-Montalcini Meeting, held in Bologna, Italy, in 2019. The book covers a wide range of important topics in past and current NTF research and will appeal to basic researchers and clinicians alike.

Contents:

Preface

Parti I: Basic Science

Chapter 1: Nerve growth factor, the first molecule of the neurotrophin family

Chapter 2: First and last time i met Rita Levi-Montalcini: from the insect neurotrophic factor to the nerve growth factor clinical application

Chapter 3: NGF Signalling in Endosomes

Chapter 4: The NGF metabolic pathway: new opportunities for biomarker research and drug target discovery

Part II: Development and regeneration

Chapter 5: NGF and endogenous regeneration: from embryology toward therapies

Chapter 6: Take a bite of NGF and its diverse actions in human tooth development, pathology and repair

Chapter 7: An overview of adult neurogenesis

Chapter 8: Intervention of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and other neurotrophins in adult neurogenesis

Part III: Alzheimer and Central Nervous System

Chapter 9: Rita Levi-Montalcini, NGF metabolism in health and in the Alzheimer's pathology

Chapter 10: NGF and APP in Alzheimer Disease

Chapter 11: Biodelivery of NGF to the Brain

Chapter 12: NGF released from blood cells or collagen-scaffolds as a therapeutic target in Alzheimers disease

Part IV: Complex behaviors

Chapter 13: When Nerve Growth Factor met Behaviour

Chapter 14: Crosstalk of BDNF and GDNF in Spinal Somatosensory Pathways

Part V: Clinical medicine

Chapter 15: BDNF Gene as a Precision Skill of Obesity Management

Chapter 16: The science of love: state of the art

Chapter 17: NGF and retinitis pigmentosa: structural and molecular studies

Chapter 18: NGF in inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases of the eye: new findings supporting neuroprotection and proper tissue remodeling in vitreo-retinal disorders

Part VI: Veterinary Medicine

Chapter 19: NGF and Animal Reproduction

Chapter 20: Neurotrophins in the brain of teleost fish: the state of art