Differential regulation of axon outgrowth and reinnervation by neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4 in the hippocampal formation

In this study, we investigated the hypothesis whether neurotrophins have a differential influence on neurite growth from the entorhinal cortex depending on the presence or absence of hippocampal target tissue. We investigated organotypic brain slices derived from the entorhinal-hippocampal system to analyze the effects of endogenous and recombinant neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) on neurite outgrowth and reinnervation. In the reinnervation assay, entorhinal cortex explants of transgenic mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) were co-cultured with wild-type hippocampi under the influence of recombinant NT-3 and NT-4 (500 ng/ml). Both recombinant NT-3 and NT-4 significantly increased the growth of EGFP+ nerve fibers into the target tissue. Consistently, reinnervation of the hippocampi of NT-4−/− and NT-3+/−NT-4−/− mice was substantially reduced. In contrast, the outgrowth assay did not exhibit reduction in axon outgrowth of NT-4−/− or NT-3+/−NT-4−/− cortex explants, while the application of recombinant NT-3 (500 ng/ml) induced a significant increase in the neurite extension of cortex explants. Recombinant NT-4 had no effect. In summary, only recombinant NT-3 stimulates axon outgrowth from cortex explants, while both endogenous and recombinant NT-3 and NT-4 synergistically promote reinnervation of the denervated hippocampus. These results suggest that endogenous and exogenous NT-3 and NT-4 differentially influence neurite growth depending on the presence or absence of target tissue.