The individual biological activities of many neurotrophic factors and their variants, which are produced by alternative splicing and proteolytic processing, often remain to be characterized. Bacterial protein production combined with protein refolding and purification is a conventional procedure to obtain active neurotrophic factors; however, the procedure is time consuming and appropriate protein refolding in vitro is sometimes unpredictable. Here we examined three distinct cell-free translation systems: reticulocyte lysate, Hela cell lysate and wheat germ extract, which may allow us to produce biologically active factors in a single tube. Taking type-I neuregulin-1 beta3 as an example, we produced neuregulin-1 protein from its mRNAs flanked by Cap nucleotide and/or internal ribosome entry site (IRES) and compared the yields and biological activity of translation products from these systems. The protein yield from IRES+ mRNA was highest in the Hela cell-free system, while background translation was lowest in the wheat germ system. The biological activity of both translation products was modest or negligible, however. Neuregulin-1 protein was produced in reticulocyte lysate at yields of 19 pmol/mL (similar to 500 ng/mL); furthermore, it was potent at phosphorylating ErbB4 receptor and able to bind to heparin sulfate. These results demonstrate that the reticulocyte lysate translation system produces active neurotrophic factors in vitro and is useful for radiolabeling or preliminary assessment of novel neurotrophic factors and their variants. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.