However, when the rats were treated with artemin, a nerve growth factor which is also found in humans, the hypersensitivity was relieved.

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The vitamin also appears to trigger the production of a protein called nerve growth factor, which directs the development of nerve cells and promotes their long-term survival.

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She said they were currently funding research into drugs that mimic the action of nerve growth factor (NGF), the name given to the gene therapy involving stimulating cell function.

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Earlier this year, Pfizer, which is in the lead with an antibody trageting nerve growth factor one (NGF-1), announced that the Food and Drug Administration had told it to put clinical trials of its drug on hold.

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New Scientist magazine reports that the researchers, led by Mark Tuszynski, of the University of California, San Diego, believe a substance called nerve growth factor (NGF) can prevent the death of cells in the brain known as cholinergenic neurons, and stimulate new connections between the cells.

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In 1990 they cloned a breakthrough product: ciliary neurotrophic factor, or CNTF, a nerve growth hormone they later named Axokine.

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