X. Liu et al., Basic fibroblast growth factor up-regulates the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in primary cultured rat astrocytes, ACT PHAR SI, 21(1), 2000, pp. 19-22
AIM: To examine the effect of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth fac
tor(bFGF) on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in
primary cultured rat astrocytes. METHODS: Semiquantification PCR (SQ-PCR)
and immunocytochemistry were used to investigate the effect of bFGF on VEGF
mRNA level and protein level, respectively. RESULTS: Treatment with bFGF d
ose-dependently increased the VEGF mRNA level in astrocytes. The up-regulat
ion of VEGF mRNA induced by bFGF (10 mu g/L) was detected as short as 3-h t
reatment. The increase of VEGF mRNA level reached the maximum after 24-h tr
eatment with bFGF. The immunocytochemical staining showed that the VEGF pro
tein level in astrocytes also increased after the cells were incubated with
bFGF. CONCLUSION: bFGF induced a marked time- and concentration-dependent
increase in VEGF expression in primary cultured astrocytes, suggesting that
the effect of bFGF on angiogenesis in brain may act partly by up-regulatin
g VEGF expression in astrocytes.