Regulation of p75 death signalling: how neurotransmitter- and neurotrophic- signals determine cell survival (2008-2011)

Nerve survival is dependent on trophic support in the form of growth factors and synaptic input, both of which promote recovery after nerve injury. The survival pathways activated by growth factors are generally well characterised, whereas survival signals activated by synaptic activity are largely unexplored. This proposal sims to discover how synaptic activity prevents nerve cell death by looking at how synaptic activity inhibits the processes active in dying nerve cells.