Method for Quantitation of Low-Abundance Nerve Growth Factor mRNA Expression in Human Nervous Tissue Using Competitive Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a polypeptide hormone important for the development, function, and survival of neurons. NGF is an important target for investigation because of its potential therapeutic importance in neurological diseases and injury, yet its low level of expression in nervous tissue makes it difficult to measure. We report here the development of a quantitative assay for human NGF mRNA, using competitive reverse transcription …