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Query: EC:3.1.4.37 (
CNPase
)
539
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Acidic fibroblast growth factor
(
aFGF
) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) are present in high levels in most areas of the embryonic rodent brain. To begin to understand the role of these growth factors in brain development, the effects of
aFGF
and bFGF on dissociated cell cultures prepared from embryonic and neonatal rat brain were studied. Addition of
aFGF
and heparin or bFGF alone to serum-free cultures of the dissociated Embryonic Day (E) 14.5 mesencephalon stimulates cell proliferation, as judged by [3H]thymidine autoradiography, leading to a maximal 75-fold increase in the total number of cells. This effect is dose-dependent with half-maximal increases at concentrations of about 5-6 ng/ml of
aFGF
or bFGF and is inhibited by the FGF antagonist HBGF-1U. The effect of
aFGF
on cell proliferation in cultures prepared from E14.5 mesencephalon is similar to that in cultures prepared from E14.5 cortex. However, in cultures prepared from E14.5 rhombencephalon or diencephalon, the proliferative effect of
aFGF
is much reduced. In all brain areas studied, the proliferative effect of
aFGF
declines with increasing age. Immunocytochemical analysis of E14.5 mesencephalic cultures demonstrated that the
aFGF
-induced increase in cell number is due to the proliferation of A2B5-immunoreactive (IR) glial precursor cells, but not of neuronal precursors, fibroblasts, or microglial cells. Moreover, differentiated glial fibrillary acidic protein-IR astrocytes and
2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase
-IR oligodendrocytes were not observed in cultures continuously treated with
aFGF
or bFGF, but were observed in high numbers after removal of the growth factors. These results suggest (1) that
aFGF
and bFGF are potent mitogens for glial precursor cells in all embryonic brain regions, (2) that the magnitude of the effects of
aFGF
depends on embryonic age and brain region, and (3) that both growth factors inhibit the differentiation of astrocyte or oligodendrocyte precursors. These observations made in vitro strongly support the hypothesis that FGF plays a critical role in gliogenesis and the timing of glial differentiation in the brain.
...
PMID:Effects of acidic and basic fibroblast growth factors (aFGF, bFGF) on glial precursor cell proliferation: age dependency and brain region specificity. 137 60
