Disruption of the gene for the myelin-associated glycoprotein improves axonal regrowth along myelin in C57BL/Wlds mice.

The myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) has been shown to be inhibitory for certain neurons in vitro (Mukhopadhyay et al., 1994; McKerracher et al., 1994). To investigate whether MAG is an inhibitory component in peripheral myelin in vivo, MAG-deficient mutant mice were cross-bred with C57BL/Wlds mice that have delayed lesion-induced myelin degeneration and axon regrowth. While in crushed nerves of C57BL/Wlds mice expressing MAG, only 16% of myelin sheaths were associated with regrowing axons, this number was doubled in MAG-deficient C57BL/Wlds mice. These observations suggest that the absence of MAG may contribute to the improved axonal regrowth in the double mutants. Therefore, degeneration of MAG-containing myelin might be an important prerequisite to optimize axonal regrowth after peripheral nerve injury.