BRANCHING ENHANCEMENT BY BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR IN CUT NEURITE OF HIPPOCAMPAL-NEURONS

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has strong neurotrophic effects both in vivo and in vitro on various brain neurons. bFGF enhanced the branching of laser beam-damaged axons of primary cultured hippocampal neurons with a suppression of the neurite's re-elongation. Conditioned medium prepared from astrocytes, on the contrary, prolonged the length of the cut neurite, but lacked a branching enhancement effect. Other neurotrophic factors, such as nerve growth factor and epidermal growth factor, did not affect the neurite branching or re-elongation. These results suggest that bFGF prevents neuronal death through promoting the branching of the cut neurite.