Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has a neurotrophic effect on mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons in vitro and in vivo. To explore whether an abnormality in bFGF expression occurs in Parkinson's disease (PD), we examined the substantia nigra (SN) of six PD and eight control cases immunohistochemically using a monoclonal antibody to bFGF. The mean number of melanin-positive neurons in sections of PD SN was 30.3% of the control mean, but the number of bFGF-immunopositive neurons was only 4.7% of the control mean. bFGF-immunorcactivity was present in only 8.2% of PD, but in 93.7% of control melanin-positive neurons. These results suggest a profound depletion of bFGF in surviving dopaminergic neurons of the SN in PD, and this depletion may be related to the disease process.