BDNF as an anterophin; a novel neurotrophic relationship between brain neurons.

Studies of the peripheral nervous system have led to the concept of target-derived neurotrophic support. Neurotrophic factors such as nerve growth factor are now known to act as retrograde trophic factors--retrophins--that are produced in the target cells and released to presynaptic neurons. However, using brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) tagged with green-fluorescent protein to monitor the subcellular dynamics of BDNF in neurites, Tsumoto and colleagues have provided persuasive visual evidence that BDNF can be released at the synapses of brain neurons in an activity-dependent manner to act on postsynaptic neurons. Accordingly, BDNF serves as an anterophin to regulate postsynaptic development and plasticity in the central nervous system.