Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1985236 | The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology | 2008 | 5 Pages |
The pan neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) is best known for mediating neural cell death during development as well as in the adult following injury, the latter making it a target for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. Although p75NTR has been studied for over 30 years, a number of recent discoveries have changed our understanding of its regulation. Here we provide a brief overview of the p75NTR protein, its post-translational modifications, and the phenotype of p75NTR-deficient mice as a starting point for researchers unfamiliar with this complex receptor. The accepted mechanisms underlying the ability of p75NTR to regulate cell death as well as a number of other neural functions, most notably neuronal differentiation, neurite outgrowth and synaptic plasticity, are also summarised.