neurotropismn.

1905 G. M. Gould Dict. New Med. Terms 380/1 Neurotropism, the attraction or repulsion exercised upon regenerating nerve-fibers. A substance is said to have positive neurotropism when these regenerating nerve fibers have a tendency to grow toward and into it.

1909 D. Orr & R. G. Rows tr. E. Lugaro Mod. Problems Psychiatry vi. 95 This doctrine of neurotropism, applied first to embryological development, is to-day corroborated by the observations on the regeneration of fibres.

1933 Amer. Naturalist 67 335 The theory of neurotropism as a form of chemotaxis has been advanced by Cajal.

1955 B. H. Willier et al. Analysis of Devel. vii. i. 356/2 Such ‘distance action’, commonly referred to as ‘neurotropism’ and assumed to be a form of either galvanotropism or chemotropism, has been invoked to explain oriented nerve growth in the embryo.., as well as during later nerve regeneration.

1968 A. F. W. Hughes Aspects Neural Ontogeny i. 34 The two principles which have been proposed as forces which direct the growing nerve fibre, the ‘contact-guidance’ of Weiss.., and the neurotropism of Ramon y Cajal, both rest on inference from the behaviour of growing fibres under various circumstances, and at present on nothing more.

1979 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) June 50/3 The discovery and isolation of NGF..has provided an opportunity to reconsider the concept of neurotropism under more favorable experimental conditions.

1987 Science 1158/1 Another important property of NGF—its ability to direct growing or regenerating axons of sensory and sympathetic fibers along its concentration gradient (neurotropism)—was definitely established.

1999 Jrnl. Orthopaedic Sci. 4 353 Nerve growth cones, the growing tips of nerves, play a central role in determining the direction taken by regenerating peripheral nerves though neurotropism and contact guidance.

1911 T. L. Stedman Pract. Med. Dict. 585/2 Neurotropism, the attraction of certain pathogenic microorganisms, poisons, and nutritive substances, toward the nerve-centers.

1925 Jrnl. Exper. Med. 42 523 His theories of dermotropism and neurotropism of viruses.

1933 Amer. Jrnl. Cancer 19 647 (heading) Neurotropism of neoplasms in the mouse.

1940 Nature 2 Nov. 596/1 A curious characteristic of the yellow fever virus..is its manifestation of two types of virulence, namely, ‘viscerotropism’, meaning that it attacks such viscera as the liver, kidneys and heart, and ‘neurotropism’, meaning that it damages the nervous system.

1959 New Scientist 19 Mar. 620/1 Sabin himself admits that there is some return of virulence—neurotropism he calls it, the power to cause paralysis.

1984 M. J. Taussig Processes in Pathol. & Microbiol. (ed. 2) iii. 348 After the bite and deposition of saliva of an infected animal, the virus multiplies locally in the wound for a few days before migrating in the axoplasm of peripheral nerves to the CNS—an example of neurotropism, the virus being called neurotropic.

1992 Internat. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 7 95/1 Evidence of HIV neurotropism partially supports the hypothesis of a specific AIDS-related psychosis.

2002 Head & Neck 24 1068 Desmoplastic neurotropic melanoma (DNM) is an uncommon cutaneous melanoma variant with pronounced neurotropism.