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Presence in brain of a mitogenic agent promoting proliferation of myoblasts in low density culture

Abstract

NORMAL animal cells in tissue culture proliferate very slowly, or not at all, when their density is less than 20 cells mm−2 (ref. 1). This property of density-dependent cell proliferation has long been a major obstacle to establishing clonal cultures. Conditioned media4 or feeder layers2,3 have been used to promote proliferation of single cells in culture. We have reported the presence, in bovine pituitary and brain, of a mitogenic factor, fibroblast growth factor (FGF), that can control the rate of growth of animal cells in vitro5. We report here that the proliferation of myoblasts seeded at low densities can be greatly accelerated by low concentrations of brain or pituitary crude extracts. This myoblast growth factor (MGF) is distict from FGF.

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GOSPODAROWICZ, D., WESEMAN, J. & MORAN, J. Presence in brain of a mitogenic agent promoting proliferation of myoblasts in low density culture. Nature 256, 216–219 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/256216a0

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