Distribution and function of fibroblast growth factor in the retina and the epiretinal membrane.

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There are many ocular proliferative diseases such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy, agerelated macular degeneration, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. which are major cause of adult blindness. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) may relate to progression of these diseases and the study of FGFs may contribute to the treatment.In the normal rat retina, acidic FGF was expressed in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), inner plexiform layr, and ganglion cell layr. Basic (b) FGF was expressed in the nuclei of various retinal cells. As it was reported that existence of FGF in the nucleus contributed to increase of cells, bFGF in the nucleus may ocular proliferative diseases. FGF-5 existed in the inner segment of photoreceptor cells, which suggest that FGF-5 maintain the renewal of photoreceptor outer segments. Another growth factor for ocular proliferative diseases may be vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Our study reveal the expression of VEGF in the gangloin cells. VEGF may contribute to the maintenance of retinal cells.In the specimens of ARMD and PDR, and bFGF expressed in the pigment cells. On the other hand, FGF-5 expressed in the vascular endothelial cells in the ARMD vascular membrane. It may be suggested that development of subretinal vascular membrane is promoted by FGF-5. ARMD is increasing in number and anti-FGF-5 monoclonal antibody may be useful for the treatment of ARMD.