Chronic administration of nerve growth factor and other neurotrophic factors to the brain.

Intracerebral chronic administration of nerve growth factor (NGF) is able to counteract age-related cholinergic dysfunction. This finding suggests that intracerebral administration of neurotrophic factors may become a generally valuable approach when attempting to ameliorate age-related neuronal deficits in experimental animals and humans. This commentary briefly discusses possible strategies for the development of such "neurotrophic factor treatments."