Mounting evidence indicates that extracellular factors exert proliferative effects on neurogenetic precursors in vivo. Recently we found that systemic levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) regulate neurogenesis in the brain of newborn rats, with factors apparently crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to stimulate mitosis. To determine whether peripheral bFGF affects proliferation du...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has been implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation and cholesterol metabolism. In studies reported herein, we show bFGF increases low density lipoprotein (LDL) binding, uptake, and degradation in arterial smooth muscle cells in a dose-dependent manner. This increase was paralleled by an increase in LDL receptor mRNA steady state levels. To determin...

Delivery of growth factors to target cells is an important subject in tissue engineering. Towards that end, we have developed a growth factor-tethered extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was tethered to extracellular matrix noncovalently. The designed ECM was comprised of 12 repeats of the APGVGV peptide motif derived from elastin as a stable structural unit ...

We have previously shown that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is mitogenic for human bone marrow stromal cells and enhances myelopoiesis in human long-term bone marrow culture. In the present study, we examined the mechanism by which bFGF enhances granulopoiesis. We observed that bFGF significantly abrogated the inhibitory effect of transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) on granul...

OBJECTIVE To explore the changes of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and angiogenesis, and the effects of bFGF, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibiter(ACEI) benazepril on the angiogenesis in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model of rabbits, and to provide a probable evidence for the treatment of AMI. METHODS AMI model was established by ligat...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) binds to cell surface tyrosine kinase receptor proteins and to heparan sulfate proteoglycans. The interaction of bFGF with heparan sulfate on the cell surface has been demonstrated to impact receptor binding and biological activity. bFGF receptor binding affinity is reduced on cells that do not express heparan sulfate. The addition of soluble heparin or hep...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a protein that plays a crucial role in diverse cellular functions, from wound healing to bone regeneration. However, a major obstacle to the widespread application of bFGF is its inherent instability during storage and delivery. Here, we describe the stabilization of bFGF by covalent conjugation with a heparin-mimicking polymer, a copolymer consisting of...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2), a potent tumorigenic cytokine, improves cells proliferation and angiogenesis in tumor and also plays vital roles in tumor growth, metastasis as well as prognosis. Screening and application of effective cytokines against bFGF tumorigenic activity would be helpful to oncologic therapy. Myostatin, a member of transforming growth factor β superfamily,...

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), which plays an important role in tumour angiogenesis and progression, provides a potential target for cancer therapy. Here we screened a phage display heptapeptide library with bFGF and identified 11 specific bFGF-binding phage clones. Two of these clones had identical sequence and the corresponding peptide (referred to as P7) showed high homology to the i...