Neurotrophic mechanisms

The BDNF and NGF signature

The single most reproducible thing Semax does in the laboratory is move the brain’s growth factors. Across rodent studies it changes BDNF and NGF gene expression in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and retina, often upward but in a direction that depends on the region and the time point, and it raised BDNF protein in the hippocampus and basal forebrain.

This unit walks the neurotrophin cascade, maps where in the brain it has been measured, follows the time course of the effect, and is honest that this rich mechanism story is built almost entirely on animal data.