[Growth stimulating activity of heparin-binding growth factor in the neural retina for retinal pigment epithelial...

Retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE cells) participate in intraocular fibrocellular proliferation in proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). The initial signal for proliferation and migration of RPE cells on PVR is not clear. However, water soluble extract from neural retina has been known to stimulate RPE cells, and fibroblast growth factor had a high affinity for heparin. In this experiment, we purified heparin-binding growth factor (HBGF) from neural retina using heparin-affinity chromatography. Then we examined the growth stimulating activity of HBGF for RPE cells proliferation. RPE cells were stimulated by HBGF, on the other hand heparin non-binding component could not stimulate RPE cells. This result suggests that the grwth-stimulating activity of retinal extract on RPE cells is related to HBGF.