ROLE OF NEUROTROPHIC FACTORS IN MOTONEURON DEVELOPMENT

More than 10 factors from different gene families are now known to enh ance motoneuron survival, and to be expressed in a manner consistent w ith a role in regulating motoneuron numbers during development. We pro vide evidence that: a) different factors may act on different sub-popu lations of motoneurons; b) different factors may act in Synergy on a g iven motoneuron. Thus, the functional diversity of motoneurons, and th e cellular complexity of their environment, may be reflected in the me chanisms that have evolved to keep them alive. ((C)Elsevier, France).