Acidic fibroblast growth factor reduces renal morphologic and functional indicators of injury caused by ischemia and reperfusion.

Therapeutic effects of acidic fibroblast growth factor on postischemic renal injury were evaluated in a rat model of bilateral renal ischemia (60 minutes) and reperfusion (7 days). Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into two groups (12 rats each). After 60 minutes of ischemia and at the onset of reperfusion, rats in the acidic fibroblast growth factor-treated group received 2.6 microg of acidic fibroblast growth factor/rat in 50 microl of phosphate-buffered saline solution containing 0.1% heparin (w/v) through the jugular vein, whereas the rats in the phosphate-buffered saline solution-treated group received the same vehicle without acidic fibroblast growth factor. Compared with the phosphate-buffered saline solution-treated group, rats in the acidic fibroblast growth factor-treated group had significantly lower blood urea nitrogen (83.13 +/- 26.07 versus 176.36 +/- 62.36, p < 0.05) and serum creatinine (0.73 +/- 0.14 versus 1.14 +/- 0.36, p < 0.05) levels 1 day after occlusion. Histopathologic scores showed much less renal damage on day 1 in the acidic fibroblast growth factor-treated rats compared with the phosphate-buffered saline solution controls. We conclude that intravenous administration of acidic fibroblast growth factor offers significant protection against postischemic renal injury and these protective effects may come from its nonmitogenic effects such as the regulation of vessel tone and calcium concentration in the body.