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Review
. 2023 Jul 4:16:1225373.
doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1225373. eCollection 2023.

Neurotrophin signalling in the human nervous system

Sarah Ateaque  1 , Spyros Merkouris  1 , Yves-Alain Barde  1
Affiliations
Review

Neurotrophin signalling in the human nervous system

Sarah Ateaque et al. Front Mol Neurosci. .

Abstract

This review focuses on neurotrophins and their tyrosine kinase receptors, with an emphasis on their relevance to the function and dysfunction in the human nervous system. It also deals with measurements of BDNF levels and highlights recent findings from our laboratory on TrkB and TrkC signalling in human neurons. These include ligand selectivity and Trk activation by neurotrophins and non-neurotrophin ligands. The ligand-induced down-regulation and re-activation of Trk receptors is also discussed.

Keywords: BDNF ELISA; Neurotrophins (NTs); Trk receptors; blood platelets; depression; memory; neurodegeneration.

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Conflict of interest statement

Y-AB is a consultant for FUJIFILM Wako Pure Chemical Corporation. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatter plots illustrating the similarities of NTRK2 and NTRK3 expression in the adult human brain. Most brain neurons express both receptors, raising the question as to how NT3 can selectively activate TrkC as it can also activate TrkB (see Ateaque et al., 2022 for a detailed account). NTRK2: https://celltypes.brain-map.org/rnaseq/human_m1_10x?selectedVisualization=Scatter+Plot&colorByFeature=Gene+Expression&colorByFeatureValue=NTRK2. NTRK3: https://celltypes.brain-map.org/rnaseq/human_m1_10x?selectedVisualization=Scatter+Plot&colorByFeature=Gene+Expression&colorByFeatureValue=NTRK3.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The numbers refer to the number of genes that were found to be up-regulated (upper row) or down-regulated compared to control (untreated cultures) at the indicated time points following addition of the 3 TrkB activators indicated. The genes were selected based on absolute fold-changes >2 and adjusted p value <0.01 cut-off criteria using the limma Bioconductor package in R software. This illustration is based on a recalculation of the results published in Merkouris et al. (2018) as explained in the text.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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