OPTIC-NERVE INJURY ALTERS BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR LOCALIZATION IN THE RETINA AND OPTIC TRACT

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is thought to be a trophic factor for several classes of neurons. Its distribution changes in response to cortical neural injury. We have determined the effect of injury to the optic nerve on localization of bFGF in the rodent retina and visual pathways. Our observations were confirmed by using different antisera and monoclonal antibodies. While photoreceptors normally contain virtually no bFGF, crushing the optic nerve causes a striking increase, over a period of several weeks, in the amount of bFGF in retinal photoreceptors. Since photoreceptors do not synapse directly upon the injured ganglion cells, intermediary cells must participate in the cascade of events that results in the elevated bFGF. In light of the observation that exogenous bFGF protects photoreceptors from photodamage (Faktorovich et al., 1992), this increase in bFGF in photoreceptors may explain, in part, why crushing the optic nerve protects photoreceptors against photodamage (Bush and Williams, 1991). Whereas bFGF is constitutively found in glia in the optic nerve, little bFGF is found in glia in the optic tract. However, damage to the optic nerve increases bFGF in astrocytes in the optic tract. This change occurs within days, suggesting that a relatively direct signal may intervene between the injured axon and the adjacent glial cells. Thus, despite the fact that the optic nerve and optic tract are contiguous structures through which axons of retinal ganglion cells project, the glial elements in these structures express distinct properties, because of differences in either glial subclasses or microenvironment. We suggest that changes in neuronal and glial bFGF expression are part of a coordinated injury response that involves a dynamic interaction between neural cells and trophic factors. These changes may contribute to either a beneficial regenerative response or a pathological change that inhibits regeneration.