Human acidic fibroblast growth factor (haFGF) stimulates repair and regeneration of central and peripheral nerves after various injuries. However, it is unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). To produce a therapeutic haFGF with cell-permeable activity, we fused the haFGF(19-154) gene with Tat-PTD. After its construction by a single-step insertion of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified coding sequence, the vector pTat-haFGF(19-154)-His was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells. The optimal expression level of the soluble fusion protein was up to 36.7% of the total cellular protein. The recombinant Tat-haFGF(19-154)-His was purified by a combination of Ni-NTA affinity, Sephadex G-25, and heparin affinity chromatography to 95% as detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The final yield was 171 mg/l culture. Purified Tat-haFGF(19-154)-His had distinct mitogenic activity in Balb/c 3T3 cells, as measured by methylthiazoletetrazolium (MTT) assay and its ED50 was 3.931 x 10(-4) mu mol/l. Tat-haFGF(19-154)- His protein intravenously injected at the dose of 10 mg/kg could be detected in the pallium and hippocampi.