Neurotrophins are a class of growth factor proteins that promote neurons to survive, differentiate, or grow. Neurotrophins include nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and neurotrophin-4 (NT-4). Neurotrophic factors have been implicated in the pathophysiology of several neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia [28, 174, 199].
