Fibroblast growth factor-1 inhibits medial smooth muscle cells apoptosis after balloon injury.

We performed balloon injury in the rat common carotid artery and identified apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling, 2 h after injury. Balloon injury induces apoptosis and loss of bcl-X protein in the innermost layers of the media of the common carotid artery. Treatment with acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF, FGF-1) attenuated by 56% the balloon angioplasty-induced apoptosis. In addition, FGF-1 treatment also induces expression of the bcl-X anti-apoptotic protein in the same site of the media showing VSMC apoptosis. These data suggest that the anti-apoptotic effect of FGF in injured vascular wall was mediated by a bcl-X pathway and identified FGF as an important factor in vascular remodeling.