Role of nerve growth factor in the development of rat sympathetic neurons in vitro. III. Effect on acetylcholine production.

Abstract

The effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on the development of cholinergic sympathetic neurons was studied in cultures grown either on monolayers of dissociated rat heart cells or in medium conditioned by them. In the presence of rat heart cells the absolute requirement of neurons for exogenous NGF was partially spared. The ability of heart cells to support neuronal survival was due at least in part to production of a diffusible NGF-like substance into the medium. Although some neurons survived on the heart cell monolayer without added NGF, increased levels of exogenous NGF increased neuronal survival until saturation was achieved at 0.5 t~g/ml 7S NGF. The ability of neurons to produce acetylcholine (ACh) from choline was also dependent on the level of exogenous NGF. In mixed neuron-heart cell cultures, NGF increased both ACh and catecholamine (CA) production per neuron to the same extent; saturation occurred at 1 t~g/ml 7S NGF. As cholinergic neurons developed in culture, they became less dependent on NGF for survival and ACh production, but even in older cultures -40% of the neurons died when NGF was withdrawn. Thus, NGF is as necessary for survival, growth, and differentiation of sympathetic neurons when the neurons express cholinergic functions as when the neurons express adrenergic functions (4, 5).KEY WORDS nerve growth factor sympathetic neurons cell culture acetylcholine production As described in the initial paper of this series (4), nerve growth factor (NGF) causes dose-dependent increases in survival, growth, and differentiation of catecholamine (CA) production in cultures of dissociated rat sympathetic neurons. Although most of the principal cells in the adult rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG) are adrenergic, Yamauchi et al. (25) obtained histochemical evidence suggesting, in analogy with cat sympathetic ganglia (23), that -5% of the neurons are cholinergic. Does NGF also influence the development of sympathetic neurons which utilize acetyicholine (ACh) as transmitter, or is it specific for adrenergic function? It was possible to examine this question in culture, since we have previously demonstrated that sympathetic neurons from the rat SCG can be induced to produce substantial amounts of ACh when grown in vitro in the presence of certain types of non-neuronal cells (20) or in medium conditioned by them (CM) (21,22). Under these conditions, the neurons also secrete ACh at functional cholinergic syn-712

The role of the leukemia inhibitory factor receptor in neuroprotective signaling

“…Patterson and Chun first showed that neurokine signaling through LIFR regulates cholinergic differentiation in sympathetic neurons (Chun & Patterson, 1977). Subsequent investigation proved that LIFR plays a role in the differentiation of other neuronal populations including adrenergic and dopaminergic neuronal populations (Fan & Katz, 1993; Lewis et al, 1994).…”

Cardiac sympathetic innervation network shapes the myocardium by locally controlling cardiomyocyte size through the cellular proteolytic machinery

“…More recently, we have investigated the biophysics of neuro‐cardiac signalling, aiming to address whether the neuronal effects on the heart were the result, in accordance with the archetypal description of cardiac physiology, of the unabridged propagation of sympathetic neurotransmitters throughout the myocardium, or whether neuro‐cardiac communication was confined to specific junctional sites, similar to those involved in skeletal muscle contraction (Hall & Sanes, ; Homan & Meriney, ). This latter hypothesis arose from the results of several previous studies obtained in vitro (Chun & Patterson, ; Shcherbakova et al ., ; Oh et al ., ) and ex vivo (Fukuda et al ., ), suggesting that specific sympathetic synapses may exist in the heart. By applying SN optogenetics, we demonstrated in vivo that neurotransmission underlying the rapid and efficient chronotropic effect of SN activation depended on the local release of NE at the intercellular contact site, with features typical of synaptic transmission (Prando et al ., ).…”

Local control of neurite development by nerve growth factor

“…Several lines of evidence suggest that nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a role in the establishment of appropriate neuron-target connections in the developing sympathetic nervous system. NGF is essential for the survival of sympathetic neurons (1-5) and causes dose-dependent increases in neuronal growth (3) and differentiation (3,5). There is evidence of its presence in sympathetic target tissues [e.g., salivary gland (6) and iris (7)] and it is transported retrograde by sympathetic axons to sympathetic ganglia (8,9).…”