ABSTRACT
The neurotrophin (NT) family of signaling molecules is a diffusible class of gene products whose role in the central nervous system (CNS) is quickly expanding under the helmsman of both scientific development and interest. Recent findings have extended their capacity for neuron-target interaction from their classical role in neuronal differentiation and survival (1), to that of CNS synapse formation, maturation, and stabilization. In fact, the extensity of NT research, such as the discovery that NT synthesis and release in the brain is regulated by neuronal activity (2,3) and that NTs themselves in turn acutely potentiate synaptic transmission (4,5), makes them perfectly suited for and possibly contributing to their own activity-dependent synthesis and release. Taken together, these findings have led to coin ‘‘the NT hypothesis of synaptic plasticity.’’
