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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Primary Culture of Mouse Dopaminergic Neurons
Published on: September 8, 2014
Neurotrophic support of midbrain dopaminergic neurons
Oliver von Bohlen und Halbach1, Klaus Unsicker
1Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences, Neuroanatomy, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 307 D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. oliver.vonbohlen@arcor.de
Abstract:
In this chapter we review work on neurotrophic factors for midbrain dopaminergic neurons mainly from the past decade, with a focus on neurotrophins and fibroblast growth factors. We summarize data obtained from animal models of Parkinson's disease, review analyses of neurotrophin, neurotrophin receptor and FGF-2 knockout mice and put these into context with data obtained from patients with Parkinson's disease and from postmortem studies. We provide a brief overview on several other factors (EGF, TGF-alpha, IGF, CNTF, PDGF, interleukins) and their capacity to promote survival and protect lesioned DAergic neurons. TGF-betas are reviewed in a separate chapter (Roussa et al, this volume).

