Hepatocyte growth factor induces mitogenic reaction to the rabbit gastric epithelial cells in primary culture.

Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) was originally identified as hepatotrophic factor for liver regeneration. More recently, HGF was revealed to stimulate proliferation of various epithelial cells. At present study, we have investigated the mitogenic effect of HGF on gastric epithelial cells in the primary culture system. HGF remarkably stimulated proliferation of these cells dose dependently and synergistically with EGF and insulin. Mitogenic action of HGF might be mediated not by intracellular Ca2+ but by tyrosine kinase pathway. Conditioned medium of cultured fibroblast-like cells showed proliferative effects on cultured gastric epithelial cells in a similar way as exogenous HGF. These results suggest that HGF might be involved in the repair process of gastric mucosa.