FGF1 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: In particular, previous studies showed that FGF-1, released from motor neurons in response to oxidative damage, induces accumulation of its receptors and activation of astrocytes that, in turn, initiate the cascade of events that leads to motor neuron death in ALS (Cassina et al. 2005; Petri et al. 2009; Huang et al. 2012).