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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 May 4.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry. 2012 Aug 15;72(4):254–255. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.05.025

Figure 1. Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 (FGF2): Vulnerability Factor and Mediator of Drug Effects.

Figure 1

FGF2 levels are low in animal models of depression and anxiety, and in postmortem brains of humans with a history of severe MDD. Therefore, FGF2 may be a co-morbidity factor that responds to anxiolytic and antidepressant treatments. FGF2 can also lead to increased survival of glial cells in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The balance between the roles of neurons and glia, and the interplay between different brain regions in the regulation of anxiety and depression remain to be elucidated.