Towards trophic factor pharmacology?

Recent developments in neurobiology have lent support to the idea that neural degeneration can be prevented, if not reverted, by the judicious application of substances which specifically affect the trophism of neurones in the adult. A great many of these substances have been proposed and some fully identified chemically. In addition to well characterized neurotrophic factors, other molecules can bring about equally dramatic effects in experimental animals. These investigations are leading us to a new field in neuropharmacology, that of "trophic factor pharmacology." Clinical expectations are high and the anticipation felt in the laboratory equally so.