Intracellular distribution of nerve growth factor in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells: evidence for a perinuclear and intranuclear location.

Abstract
The distribution of nerve growth factor (NGF) in rat pheochromocytoma cells (clone PC12) was studied with 2 techniques: immunofluorescence and autoradiography. NGF is progressively internalized in the cytoplasmic compartment and eventually accumulates in the form of discrete dots around the nucleus. A fraction of the internalized NGF appears within the nucleoplasm, often contiguous with the nucleolus. Cytoplasmic and perinuclear NGF may be in contact with a pool of tubulin or actin-like proteins in their soluble or organized form and play a key role in the process of arrest of division and neurite growth.