High impact information on CNTFR

• The EC50 of the CNTF effect (2.6 pM) was virtually identical to that measured for other CNTF receptor mediated cellular responses [1].
• The present study was undertaken to identify the CNTF receptor-expressing photoreceptors and to describe the subcellular localization of the receptor protein [2].
• Unexpectedly, the expression of chick CNTFR alpha mRNA in skeletal muscle was decreased by approximately 10-fold at 1.5 days after denervation [3].
• Cloning of the alpha component of the chick ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor: developmental expression and down-regulation in denervated skeletal muscle [3].
• The identification of this clone as chick CNTFR alpha was based on the homology in amino acid sequence (approximately 70%) with the rat and human CNTFR alpha [3].

Biological context of CNTFR

• A full-length cDNA clone encoding for the chick CNTFR alpha (alpha component of the ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor) was isolated by screening an embryonic day 13 chick brain cDNA library with a rat CNTFR alpha probe [3].
• We now demonstrate that the responsiveness of photoreceptor precursors to CNTF is confined to a brief phase between their final mitosis and their terminal differentiation owing to the temporally restricted expression of the CNTF receptor (CNTFR alpha) [4].
• All-trans-retinoic acid induced as much as a 3-fold increase in CNTF receptor alpha subunit mRNA in a time and concentration dependent manner and resulted in an enhanced CNTF-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the transcription factor, STAT3 [5].

Anatomical context of CNTFR

• In the periphery, chick CNTFR alpha transcript was expressed at high levels in the skeletal muscle and was only barely detectable in the liver [3].
• The expression of chick CNTFR alpha was developmentally regulated and was widely distributed in neural tissues, such as brain and spinal cord [3].
• Distribution of CNTF receptor alpha protein in the central nervous system of the chick embryo [6].

Regulatory relationships of CNTFR

• As shown immunocytochemically, CNTFR alpha expression in the presumptive photoreceptor layer of the chick retina starts at embryonic day 8 (E8) and is rapidly down-regulated a few days later prior to the differentiation of opsin-positive photoreceptors, both in vivo and in dissociated cultures from E8 [4].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of CNTFR

• METHODS: The localization of the CNTF receptor was analyzed by light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry in chick retinal wholemount preparations, with an antibody for CNTF receptor alpha (CNTFRalpha) [2].

References