Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun;9(3):216-224.
doi: 10.1007/s11515-014-1304-4.

Neurotrophin signaling and visceral hypersensitivity

Li-Ya Qiao  1
Affiliations

Neurotrophin signaling and visceral hypersensitivity

Li-Ya Qiao. Front Biol (Beijing). 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Neurotrophin family are traditionally recognized for their nerve growth promoting function and are recently identified as crucial factors in regulating neuronal activity in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The family members including nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) are reported to have distinct roles in the development and maintenance of sensory phenotypes in normal states and in the modulation of sensory activity in disease. This paper highlights receptor tyrosine kinase (Trk) -mediated signal transduction by which neurotrophins regulate neuronal activity in the visceral sensory reflex pathways with emphasis on the distinct roles of NGF and BDNF signaling in physiologic and pathophysiological processes. Viscero-visceral cross-organ sensitization exists widely in human diseases. The role of neurotrophins in mediating neural cross talk and interaction in primary afferent neurons in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and neurotrophin signal transduction in the context of cross-organ sensitization are also discussed.

Keywords: cross-sensitization; neurotrophin; signal transduction; visceral hypersensitivity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Li-Ya Qiao declares that she has no conflict of interest. This manuscript is a review article and does not involve a research protocol requiring approval by the relevant insitutional review board or ethics committee.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Alagiri M, Chottiner S, Ratner V, Slade D, Hanno PM. Interstitial cystitis: Unexplained associations with other chronic disease and pain syndromes. Urology. 1997;49(5 5A):52–57. - PubMed
    1. Allen AM, Saban R. Model for chronic overexpression of NGF challenges old paradigms: focus on “overexpression of NGF in mouse urothelium leads to neuronal hyperinnervation, pelvic sensitivity, and changes in urinary bladder function”. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2010;298(3):R532–R533. - PubMed
    1. Applebaum AE, Vance WH, Coggeshall RE. Segmental Localization of Sensory Cells That Innervate the Bladder. J Comp Neurol. 1980;192(2):203–209. - PubMed
    1. Aven L, Paez-Cortez J, Achey R, Krishnan R, Ram-Mohan S, Cruikshank WW, Fine A, Ai X. An NT4/TrkB-dependent increase in innervation links early-life allergen exposure to persistent airway hyperreactivity. FASEB J. 2014;28(2):897–907. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barada KA, Mourad FH, Sawah SI, Khoury C, Safieh-Garabedian B, Nassar CF, Tawil A, Jurjus A, Saadé NE. Up-regulation of nerve growth factor and interleukin-10 in inflamed and non-inflamed intestinal segments in rats with experimental colitis. Cytokine. 2007;37(3):236–245. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources