A low-molecular weight chick brain-derived growth factor is mitogenic for cultured astroglia from the chick embryo.

Immunohistochemically defined astrocytes from the 10-day chick embryo were stimulated to incorporate increased levels of [3H]thymidine when a low-molecular weight peptide growth factor, chick brain-derived growth factor (CBGF), was added to the cultures. Treatment of these GFAP-positive astrocytes with 10 ng/ml CBGF in medium supplemented with 1% fetal bovine serum resulted in a 3.5-4-fold increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation when compared to astrocytes cultured in defined medium supplemented with 1% serum alone. CBGF had no effect on the survival, proliferation or differentiation of a number of other cell types from the 10-day chick embryo brain, including neurons and meningeal fibroblasts. CBGF was also ineffective as a mitogen for chick embryo skeletal muscle myoblasts, primary mouse embryo fibroblasts and one murine teratocarcinoma-derived cell line (STO). We suggest that CBGF might act as a mitogenic signal for astroglia during central nervous system development and repair.