p75NTR-knockout mice feature increased axonal vulnerability in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Close interactions between the immune and the nervous system have been proposed after the discovery that immune cells produce and secrete neurotrophins and express their receptors. In multiple sclerosis (MS), the prototypic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, immunoreactivity for neurotrophins such as BDNF was demonstrated in lesion infiltrating immune cells. Among other neurotrophin receptors, the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) seems to be expressed on oligodendrocyte precursors, oligodendrocytes, macrophages and microglia cells in MS lesions. In this study we addressed the sig…