Keratinocyte growth factor as a mitogen for primary culture of rat hepatocytes

In a series of our studies on identification of novel mitogens for hepatocytes, keratinocyte growth factor (KGF, FGF-7) is found to have a stimulatory effect on DNA synthesis of adult rat hepatocytes in primary culture. Stimulation of DNA synthesis with KGF was seen to be dose dependent with its maximum effect at 15-50ng/ml. Studies on nuclear labeling with BrdU confirmed the mitogenic effect of KGF on rat hepatocytes. The mitogenic effect of KGF was greater than those of EGF, FGF-1 and comparable to that of HGF. Further, it exhibited additive mitogenic effect when present along with the optimum concentration of HGF, EGF or FGF-1. Thus, it is concluded that KGF is a potent mitogen for rat hepatocytes in vitro.