Experimental neurology
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Experimental neurology · Aug 1993
Basic fibroblast growth factor enhances the growth of postnatal neostriatal GABAergic neurons in vitro.
Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) significantly enhances the short-term survival of embryonic striatal neurons in vitro but has little effect on the outgrowth of striatal cells compared to neurons from other brain regions. Studies in our laboratory have shown that bFGF protects postnatal striatal cells in vitro from NMDA receptor-induced neurotoxicity. We therefore examined the effects of bFGF on the outgrowth of GABA-containing cells taken from the postnatal (Day 1) caudate-putamen and cultured for up to 3 weeks. ⋯ First, glial cells (identified by the immunohistochemical localization of glial fibrillary acidic protein) were unaffected by bFGF treatment at the low concentration (6 pM) used to enhance neurite growth, but did significantly proliferate at higher concentrations of bFGF (6 nM). Second, immunoreactive bFGF receptor protein was localized predominantly to the somata and processes of striatal neurons and not to glial cells in the cultures. Finally, when neurons from control cultures were briefly exposed (1 to 4 h) to bFGF at concentrations which were neurotrophic, a marked elevation in the immediate early gene protein c-fos was observed by immunohistochemistry in the nuclei of neurons, including GABAergic cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)