In an effort to elucidate control mechanisms for developmentally programmed cell death, conditions were sought which rescue the cells destined to die. Three areas of mesodermal cell death in the chick wing were examined, the posterior necrotic zone (PNZ) , the opaque patch (OP) and apical mesoderm. The PNZ and OP are areas of normally programmed cell death whereas the apical mesoderm undergoes ...

Neurotrophic support is generally believed to result from a direct action of growth factors on developing neurons. However, there is increasing evidence that growth factors can indirectly affect neuronal development by glial-mediated processes. To investigate a possible role of glia in mediating neurotrophic effects on dopaminergic neurons, four purified growth factors were screened for dual ef...

Human mononuclear cells were plated in culture, and the conditioned media of these cells were analyzed by heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. The fractions were tested for growth factor activity as measured by the stimulation of DNA synthesis in BALB/c 3T3 cells. After 2 d in culture, two peaks of heparin-binding growth factor (HBGF) activity were detected, one eluting with 0.5 M NaCl, w...