Both nerve growth factor (NGF) and pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) have neurotrophic effects on basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. They promote differentiation, maturation, and survival of these cholinergic neurons in vivo and in vitro. Here we report on the cooperative effects of NGF and PACAP on postnatal, but not embryonic, cholinergic neurons cultured from rat basal forebrain. Combined treatment with NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-4 (NT-4), and PACAP induced an additive increase in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity. There were no cooperative effects on the number of cholinergic neurons, suggesting that ChAT mRNA expression had been induced in each cholinergic neuron. Further analysis revealed that NGF and PACAP led to complementary induction of different ChAT mRNA species, thus enhancing total ChAT mRNA expression. These results explain the cooperative neurotrophic action of NGF and PACAP on postnatal cholinergic neurons. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.