Biomedical reports
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Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is involved in the activation of astrocytes. A previous study showed that CNTF-treated astrocyte-conditioned medium (CNTF-ACM) contributed to the increase of the calcium current and the elevation of corresponding ion channels in cortical neurons. On this basis, it is reasonable to assume that CNTF-ACM may increase the intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in neurons. ⋯ As expected, the data indicated that CNTF-ACM resulted in a clear elevation of [Ca2+]i in neurons. Additionally, the fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) contained in the CNTF-ACM was found to participate in the upregulation of [Ca2+]i. Taken together, CNTF induces the production of active factors (at least including FGF-2) released from astrocytes, which finally potentiate the increase of [Ca2+]i in cortical neurons.