Basic fibroblast growth factor ameliorates learning deficits in basal forebrain-lesioned mice.

The effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) treatment on memory and learning performance ability was investigated in basal forebrain (BF)-lesioned mice. Eight-week-old male ddY mice underwent bilateral BF lesions by delivery of radiofrequency current. Basic FGF (5 or 50 ng/side) was microinjected into the same location immediately after lesioning. From fifteen days after the treatment, a step-through type passive avoidance test was performed daily for 10 days. Lesioned animals showed severe impairment in the acquisition process in this task, but not in the retention process. Basic FGF improved the step-through performances; step-through latency was elongated in a dose-dependent manner on the first test trial day and the mean time required to reach the acquisition criterion was shorter than in the vehicle-treated control group. However, bFGF did not alter the cortical choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity decrement induced by BF lesion. These results suggest that bFGF ameliorates the memory deficit without affecting the cortical ChAT activity.