The purpose of the present study was to determine protectivie effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on cochlear neurons and hair cells in vitro and in vivo. In experiment I, cultured spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) prepared from P3 mice were exposed to 20mM glutamate for 2 hours before the culture medium was replaced with fresh medium containing 0, 25, 50, and 100 ng/ml bFGF, respectively. Fourteen days later, all cultures were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, and stained with 1% toluidine blue. The number of surviving SGNs were counted and the length of SGNs neurites were measured. Exposure to 20 mM glutamate for 24 hours resulted in an inhibition on neurite outgrowth of SGNs and elevated cell death. Treatment of the cultures with bFGF led to promotion of neurite outgrowth and elevated number of surviving SGNs. Effects of bFGF were dose dependent with the highest potency at 100 ng/ml. In experiment Ⅱ, in vivo studies were carried out with guinea pigs in which bFGF or artificial perilymph was perfused into the cochlea to assess possible protective effects of bFGF on cochlear hair cells and compound action potentials(CAP). The CAPs were measured before, immediatly and 48 hours after exposure to noise. Significant differences in CAP were observed (p＜0. 05 ) among the bFGF perfused group, control group(t =3. 896 ) and artificial perilymph perfused group (t =2. 520) at 48 hours after noise exposure, Cochleae were removed and hair cell Loss was analyzed in surface preparations prepared from all experimental animals. Acoustic trauma caused loss of 651 and 687 inner hair cells in the control and artificial perilymph perfused group, respectively. In sharp contrast, only 31 inner hair cells were lost in the bFGF perfused ears. Similarly, more outer hair cells died in the control and perilymph perfuesed group (41830 and 41968, respectively) than in the group treated with bFGF (34258). Our results demonstrate that bFGF protected SGNs against glutmate neurotoxicity in vitro. In addition, treatment with bFGF also protected hair cells from acoustic trauma.