PMID- 2573550 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 19900110 LR - 20220310 IS - 0012-1606 (Print) IS - 0012-1606 (Linking) VI - 136 IP - 2 DP - 1989 Dec TI - The survival of chick retinal ganglion cells in response to brain-derived neurotrophic factor depends on their embryonic age. PG - 296-303 AB - The survival effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on the ganglion cells of the chick retina were studied in vitro at different embryonic ages. We found these effects to be strongly age-dependent: at E5, when the first ganglion cell axons have crossed the optic chiasm, but not yet reached the tectum, ganglion cells survived on a laminin substrate irrespective of the presence or absence of BDNF. At E6, when the axons of the first-generated ganglion cells reached the rostral pole of the tectum, the ganglion cells began to show a dependency on BDNF for survival, but the majority of them were alive after 2 days in vitro in the absence of BDNF. With increasing age, the BDNF dependency for survival increased, and at E11, the majority of the ganglion cells plated were dependent on BDNF for survival. It is at this age that the maximal number of axons can be found in vivo in the optic nerve, the subsequent elimination of ganglion cells and their axons resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of them over the next few days. Taken together, these data indicate that retinal ganglion cells depend on BDNF for survival only when their axons have reached their target in vivo. This situation is reminiscent of that described in the peripheral nervous system for the nerve growth factor responsiveness of mouse trigeminal sensory neurons during the period of innervation of their target. FAU - Rodriguez-Tebar, A AU - Rodriguez-Tebar A AD - Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Department of Neurochemistry, Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany. FAU - Jeffrey, P L AU - Jeffrey PL FAU - Thoenen, H AU - Thoenen H FAU - Barde, Y A AU - Barde YA LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't PL - United States TA - Dev Biol JT - Developmental biology JID - 0372762 RN - 0 (Antigens, Surface) RN - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) RN - 0 (Culture Media) RN - 0 (Nerve Tissue Proteins) RN - 0 (Thy-1 Antigens) RN - 9004-67-5 (Methylcellulose) SB - IM MH - Age Factors MH - Animals MH - Antigens, Surface MH - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor MH - Cell Survival/drug effects MH - Cells, Cultured MH - Chick Embryo MH - Culture Media MH - In Vitro Techniques MH - Methylcellulose MH - Nerve Tissue Proteins/*pharmacology MH - Retina/*cytology MH - Retinal Ganglion Cells/*cytology MH - Thy-1 Antigens EDAT- 1989/12/01 00:00 MHDA- 1989/12/01 00:01 CRDT- 1989/12/01 00:00 PHST- 1989/12/01 00:00 [pubmed] PHST- 1989/12/01 00:01 [medline] PHST- 1989/12/01 00:00 [entrez] AID - 0012-1606(89)90256-X [pii] AID - 10.1016/0012-1606(89)90256-x [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Dev Biol. 1989 Dec;136(2):296-303. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(89)90256-x.