Journal of Clinical and Experimental Investigations

Abstract

Objectives: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is one of the most mortal subtypes of stroke. Due to the angiogenic, neurotropic, and vessel-dilating properties of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in the brain, role of bFGF has been investigated in a number of neurological disorders. So far, there is only study about serum bFGF levels in patients with ICH. The first aim of the present research is to investigate whether increased serum bFGF in patients with ICH. Also, second aim was to study the association between serum levels of bFGF and clinical status in patients with ICH.
Materials and methods: We measured the serum levels of bFGF in 30 patients with ICH during acute period. Age and sex matched healthy subjects (n=30) were included in controls. Serum bFGF levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.
Results: The patients with intracerebral hemorrhage had higher serum levels of bFGF when compared with the healthy controls (12.89±3.23 ng/ml, 5.28±1.75 ng/ml; p=0.001). No statistically significant difference was determined between bFGF levels of the patients who died as compared to the patients who lived (13.49±4.13 ng/ml; 12.43±3.43 ng/ml, p>0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between bFGF levels of the patients with intraventricular hemorrhage as compared to the patients without intraventricular hemorrhage (13.54±3.92 ng/ml; 12.24±2.29 ng/ml, p>0.05). There was no correlation between serum bFGF, hematoma volume, Gloskow coma scale, and National Institutes of Health stroke scale (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The increased bFGF level may be one of the mechanisms that lead to angiogenesis and neuroprotection after ICH in human.