Stimulation of wound healing, using brain extract with fibroblast growth factor (FGF) activity. II. Histological and morphometric examination of cells and capillaries.

Reported in this paper are studies by which evidence was produced to increased formation of granulation tissue in rats, aged two and six months, seven days after repeated localised administration of brain extract from cattle with FGF activity (fibroblast growth factor). Such increased formation of granulation tissue was attributable to the formation in the same granulation tissue of larger amounts of capillaries, which actually provided conditions for better blood supply. The above increase was associated with stimulation of the synthetic function of fibroblasts and myofibroblasts in the granulation tissue. Comprehensive morphometric tests, including differential counting, appeared to show that additional effects had to be assumed, in particular on macrophages and lymphocytes. Such increase in angiogenesis seemed to suggest that in the in vivo model studied FGF proved to be, first of all, a factor of angiogenesis rather than a factor of fibroblast growth. The above results, as obtained from rats which differed in age, exhibited a certain variation in response to FGF. This seems to underline the importance of age-dependent examination also in the context of pharmacological studies.