A calcium-permeable, voltage-insensitive non-specific cation channel that is activated by cytoplasmic calcium was found in approximately 50% of the cell-attached patches in cultured human retinal glial cells sampled by the patch clamp technique. Spontaneous openings of this channel were infrequent, but increased markedly when glial cells were exposed to basic fibroblast growth factor. Although ...

The conformational stability and the folding properties of the all-beta-type protein human basic fibroblast growth factor (hFGF-2) were studied by means of fluorescence spectroscopy. The results show that the instability of the biological activity of hFGF-2 is also reflected in a low conformational stability of the molecule. The reversibility of the unfolding and refolding process was establish...

The cDNA sequence coding for human basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has been cloned downstream of a transcription promoter recognized by the bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase. Initiation of translation at the fgf gene has been coupled to upstream translation of a fragment of the T7 phi 10 gene. Expression of the fgf gene in this system can lead to an accumulation of approximately 40 mg/liter...

We established an in vitro hypoxia model and investigated the protective effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) against neuronal cell death caused by hypoxia. Hippocampal neurons obtained from rats on embryonic day (E) 17 and 20 and on postnatal day (P) 4 were cultured for 6-24 h in an oxygen-deprived state. This in vitro hypoxia study showed that the cultured neurons were sensitive to...

The influences of K-252a and staurosporine, protein kinase inhibitors, on neurotrophic effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) were investigated in dissociated cell cultures of the striatum, hippocampus and cerebellum of fetal rats. Addition of 1 ng/ml bFGF enhanced the survival of cultured neurons of all brain regions tested. Both K-252a (10-200 nM) and staurosporine (1-100 nM) blocke...

Stromal cell-derived FGF-7 binds and activates only the resident FGFR2IIIb in epithelial cells while FGF-1 and FGF-2 exhibit a broader interaction with multiple isoforms of FGFR. Here we report the structure of FGF-7 that has been solved to 3.1 A resolution by molecular replacement with the structure of a dual function chimera of FGF-7 and FGF-1 (FGF-7/1) which was resolved to 2.3 A. Comparison...

The intestinal cell line I407 responds to basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) by upregulating cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA and protein expression and increasing PGE(2) production. bFGF treatment of I407 cells results in phosphorylation of p38, and the p38 inhibitor SB-203580 abrogates bFGF-induced PGE(2) synthesis. Wild-type p38alpha (p38alphaWT) and dominant-negative p38alpha (p38alphaDN) s...

The formation of interstitial axonal branches involves the severing of microtubules at sites where new branches form. Here we wished to ascertain whether basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) enhances axonal branching through alterations in proteins involved in the severing of microtubules. We found that treatment of cultured hippocampal neurons with bFGF heightens expression of both katanin an...