Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Enhanced the Recruitment of Progenitor Cells and Myelin Repair in Experimental Demyelination of Rat Hippocampal Formations

Objective: hippocampal insults have been observed in multiple sclerosis (ms) patients.fibroblast growth factor-2 (fgf2) induces neurogenesis in the hippocampus and enhancesthe proliferation, migration and differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells(opcs). in the current study, we have investigated the effect of fgf2 on the processes ofgliotoxin induced demyelination and subsequent remyelination in the hippocampus.materials and methods: in this experimental study adult male sprague-dawley rats receivedeither saline or lysolecithin (lpc) injections to the right hippocampi. animals receivedintraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of fgf2 (5 ng/g) on days 0, 5, 12 and 26 post-lpc.expressions of myelin basic protein (mbp) as a marker of myelination, olig2 as a markerof opc proliferation, nestin as a marker of neural progenitor cells, and glial fibrillary acidicprotein (gfap) as a marker of reactive astrocytes were investigated in the right hippocampiby reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr).results: there was reduced mbp expression at seven days after lpc injection, increasedexpressions of olig2 and nestin, and the level of gfap did not change. fgf2treatment reversed the expression level of mbp to the control, significantly enhancedthe levels of olig2 and nestin, but did not change the level of gfap. at day-28 post-lpc, the expression level of mbp was higher than the control in lpc-treated animalsthat received fgf2. the levels of olig2, nestin and gfap were at the control level inthe non-treated lpc group but significantly higher in the fgf2-t reated lpc group.conclusion: fgf2 enhanced hippocampal myelination and potentiated the recruitmentof opcs and neural stem cells (nscs) to the lesion area. long-term application of fgf2might also enhance astrogliosis in the lesion site.