Experiments examining thalidomide's enantiomers reveal-that the S(-)-enantiomer has the strongest antiangiogenic activity in VEGF-induced and bFGF-induced corneal neovascularization.
Administration of fibroblast growth factor 2 in combination with bone marrow transplantation synergistically improves carbon-tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis in mice.
Only one bFGF isoform (17.8 kd) was found in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic beryllium disease lung tissues and interacted with heparin-like molecules in the lung.
FGF2, the most widely characterized family member, is down-regulated in the depressed brain and plays a protective role in rodent models of affective disorders.
Individuals with mood disorders exhibit alterations in the fibroblast growth factor system, including reduced hippocampal fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2).
In this series of studies, we first ask whether endogenous FGF2 expression correlates with spontaneous anxiety, a trait associated with vulnerability to severe mood disorders in humans.
Treatment of MM cells with egr-1 short interfering RNA suppressed proliferation, which was overridden by exogenously added recombinant FGF-1 and, in particular, FGF-2.
The second series of experiments was designed to study the effects of FGF2 neutralizing antibody (40 micrograms for 5 days after PAN injection, in MoAb group) on severely damaged podocytes caused by repeated (two courses) injections in the PAN nephropathy rats.
The results of immunohistochemistry, Western blotting and semiquantitative RT-PCR indicated that mRNA and protein levels of leptin, leptin receptors, androgen receptor and FGF2 were significantly higher in the GDM placentae than non-GDM placentae; while NRIH3, NRIH2, StARD3, CYP11A1, HSD3B, HSD11B, HSD17B, ERalpha, ERbeta, progesterone receptor, FGF receptor-2, insulin receptor-alpha and -beta showed no differences.
We determined the distribution of hippocampal FGF-2 and its receptor (FGFR1) mRNA in post-mortem brains of people who suffered from major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and those of controls.
Given the neuroprotective activity of FGF-2, the data presented here might be relevant to the deficit in cognition and other symptoms that appear in schizophrenia.