COMPARISON OF THE VALUES OF BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR DETERMINEDBY AN IMMUNOASSAY IN THE SERA OF PATIENTS WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURYAND ENHANCED OSTEOGENESIS AND THE EFFECTS OF THE SAME SERA ON THE FIBROBLAST GROWTH IN-VITRO

In patients with severe traumatic brain injury, the early healing of f ractures is accompanied by hypertrophic callus formation or heterotopi c ossifications, which might even result in ankylosis of the affected joints. Analysis of the sera of patients with traumatic brain injury r evealed post-traumatic dynamic changes of basic fibroblast growth fact or immunoreactivity, similar to those observed during fracture healing associated with enhanced osteogenesis. The aim of this study was to d etermine whether such changes in basic fibroblast growth factor concen trations could be related to the phenomenon of enhanced osteogenesis. Basic fibroblast growth factor immunoreactivity was determined (using an IEMA kit) in the sera of patients with traumatic brain injury and b one fractures (n = 8) and in the sera of patients with either traumati c brain injury alone (n = 10) or bone fractures alone (n = 7), and the effects of these sera on L929 fibroblast growth were analysed in vitr o. The results did not prove a causative relationship between the chan ges of basic fibroblast growth factor immunoreactivity and in vitro gr owth promoting effects of the sera. However, it is apparent that, in a ddition to changes in the growth-promoting activity and basic fibrobla st growth factor concentration of serum, other as yet unknown post-tra umatic changes can cause enhanced osteogenesis.