PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Leda Dimou AU - Lisa Schnell AU - Laura Montani AU - Carri Duncan AU - Marjo Simonen AU - Regula Schneider AU - Thomas Liebscher AU - Miriam Gullo AU - Martin E. Schwab TI - Nogo-A-Deficient Mice Reveal Strain-Dependent Differences in Axonal Regeneration AID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1103-06.2006 DP - 2006 May 24 TA - The Journal of Neuroscience PG - 5591--5603 VI - 26 IP - 21 4099 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/26/21/5591.short 4100 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/26/21/5591.full SO - J. Neurosci.2006 May 24; 26 AB - Nogo-A, a membrane protein enriched in myelin of the adult CNS, inhibits neurite growth and regeneration; neutralizing antibodies or receptor blockers enhance regeneration and plasticity in the injured adult CNS and lead to improved functional outcome. Here we show that Nogo-A-specific knock-outs in backcrossed 129X1/SvJ and C57BL/6 mice display enhanced regeneration of the corticospinal tract after injury. Surprisingly, 129X1/SvJ Nogo-A knock-out mice had two to four times more regenerating fibers than C57BL/6 Nogo-A knock-out mice. Wild-type newborn 129X1/SvJ dorsal root ganglia in vitro grew a much higher number of processes in 3 d than C57BL/6 ganglia, confirming the stronger endogenous neurite growth potential of the 129X1/SvJ strain. cDNA microarrays of the intact and lesioned spinal cord of wild-type as well as Nogo-A knock-out animals showed a number of genes to be differentially expressed in the two mouse strains; many of them belong to functional categories associated with neurite growth, synapse formation, and inflammation/immune responses. These results show that neurite regeneration in vivo, under the permissive condition of Nogo-A deletion, and neurite outgrowth in vitro differ significantly in two widely used mouse strains and that Nogo-A is an important endogenous inhibitor of axonal regeneration in the adult spinal cord.