Objective(s): Umbilical cord blood is a good source of the mesenchymal stem cells that can be banked, expanded and used in regenerative medicine.  The objective of this study was to test whether amniotic membrane extract, as a rich source of growth factors such as basic-fibroblast growth factor, can promote the proliferation potential of the umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells. Materials and ...

Na(+)/H(+) exchanger NHE3 is a plasma membrane (PM) protein, which contributes to Na(+) absorption in the intestine. Growth factors stimulate NHE3 via phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K), but mechanism of this process is not clear. To examine the hypothesis that growth factors stimulate NHE3 by modulating NHE3 recycling, and that PI3-K participates in this mechanism, we used PS120 fibroblasts...

P OLYPEPTIDE growth factors (GFs) 1 play a fundamental role during embryogenesis and regeneration (e.g., wound healing) by stimulating proliferation and differentiation of certain cell populations. Some GFs can be responsible also for malignant transformation and tumor growth (e.g., FGF-4: hst1 oncogene). GF receptors (GFRs) are generally known as plasma membrane proteins which “send” signals t...

UNLABELLED Recent investigations have established the feasibility of using exogenously delivered angiogenic growth factors to increase collateral artery development in animal models of myocardial and hindlimb ischemia. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to evaluate the ability of a stabilized form of acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF-S117) to stimulate collateralization and arteriogenesis in the rabbi...

This study investigates the effect of increased ventilation on the expression of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) in the diaphragm of intact, awake, spontaneously breathing rats, compared with responses in paralysed, mechanically-ventilated animals at simi...

The alveolar basement membrane contains a variety of extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules, including laminin and sulfated glycosaminoglycans of proteoglycans. These mixtures exist within microdomains of differing levels of sulfate, which may specifically interact to be key determinants of the known capacity of the type II cell to respond to certain growth factors. Isolated type II cells were ex...