Fp. Eckenstein et al., CELLULAR-DISTRIBUTION, SUBCELLULAR-LOCALIZATION AND POSSIBLE FUNCTIONS OF BASIC AND ACIDIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTORS, Biochemical pharmacology, 47(1), 1994, pp. 103-110
The distribution in the rat nervous system of acidic and basic fibrobl
ast growth factors (FGFs) was analysed by a combination of biochemical
and anatomical method. Acidic FGF (aFGF) was found to be present excl
usively in specific neuronal populations, such as motor neurons and ba
sal forebrain cholinergic neurons. Basic FGF (bFGF) was found in astro
cytes and in neurons in hippocampal area CA2. Within labelled astrocyt
es and CA2-neurons, bFGF was detected in both the cytoplasm and the nu
cleus. The levels of intracellular bFGF were manipulated by antisense
oligonucleotide treatment of cultures of developing neural crest cells
. Results indicated that the amount of melanogenesis in the cultures i
s likely to be regulated by intracellular, possibly nuclear bFGF.