ENHANCEMENT OF APOPTOSIS IN DEVELOPING CHICK NEURAL RETINA CELLS BY BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR

To evaluate the role of various growth factors in naturally occurring cell death during development of the neural retina, we examined the ef fects of such factors on the nuclear morphology and the size of DNA in cultured chick embryonic neural retina cells. Basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) increased internuclosomal cleavage of DNA and nuclear fr agmentation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The effect was inhib ited by anti-bFGF antibody, suramin, and cycloheximide. Epidermal grow th factor, platelet-derived growth factor, nerve growth factor, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and dexamethasone had no effect. These re; suit s provide evidence that bFGF may eventually act as a lethal factor ind ucing apoptotic cell death during the development of the neural retina in chick embryo.