Monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 is rapidly expressed by sympathetic ganglion neurons following axonal injury.

EDI-immunoreactive macrophages, absent from the superior cervical ganglia (SCG) of normal rats, appear in these ganglia within 48 h after postganglionic axotomy. Further, resident macrophages show changes after axotomy. Since chemokines function as chemoattractants and activators of leukocytes, the effects of axotomy on chemokine expression in the SCG were examined. Within 6 h after nerve transection, increases were seen in mRNA levels for monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-I. MCP-I mRNA was concentrated in a population of neurons, while MCP-I protein was localized to endothelial cells. This axotomy-induced neuronal MCP-I expression may trigger the infiltration and/or activation of macrophages in SCG after injury.