A. Rodriguez-T‚bar, G. De-chant, Y.-A. Barde, "Binding of brain-derived neurotrophic factor to the nerve growth factor receptor," Neuron, 4:487-92, 1990.
Yves-Alain Barde (Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Marrinsreid, Germany): "This paper has received attention because it demonstrates that two related neurotrophic molecules--nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)--bind with similar affinities to the same receptor. At the time the paper was published, the so-called low-affinity NGF receptor was the only characterized molecule known to bind NGF. The fact that another ligand, BDNF, would bind to the same molecule--though with different kinetics--offered an explanation for the widespread neuronal expression of the low-affinity NGF receptor gene.
"Also, this paper uncovered an important characteristic of high-affinity receptors for neurotrophic factors--high affinity is accompanied by a high degree of ligand discrimination, much higher than that achieved by the low-affinity receptor alone. The subsequent discovery by others that members of the Trk family of ...
