Novel classes of neural axon outgrowth promoting and orienting proteins or netrins, nucleic acids encoding netrins and cellularwhich selectively bind such netrins are disclosed. Agents such as netrin peptides are capable of effecting axon outgrowth, orientationand regeneration. These agents provide small molecular weight modulators of nerve cell growth useful in the treatment of neurologicaldisease and injury. The disclosed compositions also find use variously in screening chemical libraries for regulators of axon outgrowth andorientation, in genetic mapping, as probes for related genes, as diagnostic reagents for genetic neurological disease and in the productionof specific cellular and animal systems for the development of neurological disease therapy.
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