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Published June 20, 1996 | public
Journal Article

Rapid and opposite effects of BDNF and NGF on the functional organization of the adult cortex in vivo

Abstract

THE adult cortex is thought to undergo plastic changes that are closely dependent on neuronal activity (reviewed in ref. 1), although it is not yet known what molecules are involved. Neurotrophins and their receptors have been implicated in several aspects of developmental plasticity, and their expression in the adult cortex suggests additional roles in adult plasticity. To examine these potential roles in vivo, we used intrinsic-signal optical imaging to quantify the effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on the functional representation of a stimulated whisker in the 'barrel' subdivision of the rat somatosensory cortex. Topical application of BDNF resulted in a rapid and long-lasting decrease in the size of a whisker representation, and a decrease in the amplitude of the activity-dependent intrinsic signal. In contrast, NGF application resulted in a rapid but transient increase in the size of a representation, and an increase in the amplitude of the activity-dependent intrinsic signal. These results demonstrate that neurotrophins can rapidly modulate stimulus-dependent activity in adult cortex, and suggest a role for neurotrophins in regulating adult cortical plasticity.

Additional Information

© 1996 Nature Publishing Group. Received 3 January; accepted 28 April 1996. We thank Amgen Inc. for BDNF; Genentech Inc. for NGF; J. Carnahan for BDNF antibodies; 0. 0. Clary for TrkA antibodies; D. Kaplan for TrkB antibodies; and S. E. Fraser for support and comments on the manuscript. This work was supported in part by NIMH, NSF, the UCI Markey Program in Human Neurobiology (R.D.F.). the UCI Medical Scientist Training Program (N.P.), and the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation and NIMH (S.C.-C.).

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023