Brain-derived neurotrophic factor but not vesicular zinc promotes TrkB activation within mossy fibers of mouse hippocampus in vivo.

ABSTRACT: The neurotrophin receptor, TrkB receptor tyrosine kinase, is critical to central nervous system (CNS) function in health and disease. Elucidating the ligands mediating TrkB activation in vivo will provide insights into its diverse roles in the CNS. The canonical ligand for TrkB is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). A diversity of stimuli also can activate TrkB in the absence of BDNF, a mechanism termed transactivation. Zinc, a divalent cation packaged in synaptic vesicles along with glutamate in axons of mammalian cortical neurons, can transactivate TrkB in neurons and heterologous cells in vitro. Yet the contributions of BDNF and zinc to TrkB activation in vivo are unknown. To address these questions, we conducted immunohistochemical (IHC) studies of the hippocampal mossy fiber axo

SUBMITTER: Helgager J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4167967 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature