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Nerve growth factors, as the name implies, induce nerves in the brain to grow. It's been tempting to use them for Alzheimer's disease. A group in California has had some success in slowing mental deterioration by putting NGF into only certain bits of the brain. Nerve growth factors, as the name implies, induce nerves in the brain to grow, and it's been tempting to use them for Alzheimer's disease. But nerve growth factor - NGF - can be toxic. When instilled into the fluid which surrounds the brain, NGF caused nasty side effects such as pain, weight loss and cells popping up where they shouldn't be. But a group in California has had some success putting NGF into only certain bits of the brain. They got a small group of people with early Alzheimer's, took some cells from beneath their skin and spliced in a gene for nerve growth factor so that the cells became tiny NGF factories. Then neurosurgeons carefully placed the altered cells into a specific part of the brain. The first cases were done under local anaesthetic and two of the patients moved suddenly during the procedure causing strokes. One of them eventually died. The rest were done safely under general anaesthesia. It wasn't a controlled study but over time mental deterioration slowed and in some people it reversed a little. It was just a beginning but suggests NGF cells might be worth testing further and in other parts of the brain.
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