Neurons migrating from the neural crest into the presumptive gut wall need an appropriate microenvironment to survive and differentiate during ontogenesis. The @entity35 enteric nervous system (ENS) keeps developing beyond birth. The aim of this study was to investigate the neurotrophic effects of the postnatal microenvironment. Myenteric plexus was isolated from the smooth muscle layer of newborn @entity35 at different ages (postnatal day (p)1, p7, @entity10495 ) and grown as dissociated cell cultures. The culture medium (hormone-supplemented, serum-free) was supplemented either with @entity10157 ( @entity10157 ) or with protein extracts from homogenized smooth muscle layer of p7 @entity35 . Cultures kept in defined medium alone were used as controls. After 18 h in vitro both @entity10157 and protein extract had a neuritogenic effect upon p1 and p7 neurons, while @entity10495 neurons were only stimulated by the protein extracts. The @entity10157 effect upon these neurons did not differ significantly from the effects in defined medium alone. The average neurite outgrowth in extract-supplemented cultures was always longer than that seen in those treated with @entity10157 . Although @entity10157 influences the postnatal development of myentric neurons in vitro it could not be detected immunohistochemically either in Western blots of the protein extracts or in cryostat sections of the gut.

Protein extracts from the gut wall influence the postnatal development of XXXX myenteric neurons in vitro.

@entity35 :: ('10116', 'Species') :: ['rat', 'rats'] @entity10495 :: ('94195(Tax:10116)', 'Gene') :: ['p14'] @entity10157 :: ('25453(Tax:10116)', 'Gene') :: ['GDNF', 'glial-cell-line-derived-neurotrophic factor']
@entity35 :: (10116,Species) :: ['rat']
