Distribution of intravenously administered acidic and basic fibroblast growth factors in the mouse.

Iodinated acidic or basic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF or bFGF) were separately injected into adult mice to follow their distribution in the main organs of the animals. Iodinated FGFs intravenously injected into mice cleared from blood with a T1/2 of 30 s. They mainly bound to kidney, liver and spleen. The binding of FGFs to these organs was maintained when the latter were washed with a physiological buffer containing 0.15 M NaCl, but it was eliminated when the buffer contained 2 M NaCl. Simultaneous injections of the FGFs together with increasing doses of heparin weakened the binding of FGF to vessels in a dose-dependent manner.