Expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in rat and mouse skin and its biological significance

Objective To explore the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in rat and mouse skin and to explore its potential biological singificance. Methods Skins at the back of rats and mice at embryonic, newborn, youth and adult stages were taken, frozen at ultra low temperature, or embedded and microtomed. Immunohistochemical method, hybridization and RT PCR techniques were used to observe the localization and expression amount of growth factor protein, bFGF receptor and bFGF gene. Results Positive immunohistochemical signal of bFGF protein could be found in the skins from newborn, youth and adult rats, mainly in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells, hair follicle, endothelial cells and fibroblasts, and could not be found in the skin of embryonic rats. With the increase in age, the expression amount of bFGF increased. The expression of bFGF receptor and bFGF gene could be found in the skin from all developmental stages in rats and mice. Conclusion The endogenous bFGF is involved in the epidermal development in embryonic stage and in the wound healing in adult stage. However, bFGF may only plays an important role in tissue repair in adult stage after injury. The absence of bFGF may be one of the reasons for the scarless healing in embryonic stage as shown by the negative expression of bFGF in skin from embryonic rats.