Is there a long-lasting effect of a short-term nerve growth factor application on axotomized rat septohippocampal neurons?

Loss of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-immunoreactive neurons in the medial septum (MS) following fimbria transection can be prevented by nerve growth factor (NGF) application. Here we have studied the long-term effects of a short-term NGF treatment starting immediately after lesion and lasting for the first 3 weeks. We demonstrate that this NGF treatment rescues many ChAT neurons after short survival time (3 weeks) but does not have a long-lasting (6 months) effect on both ChAT- and parvalbumin-immunopositive (GABAergic) MS neurons.