Macrophage-specific RhoA knockout delays Wallerian degeneration after peripheral nerve injury in mice.
Jiawei XuJinkun WenLanya FuLiqiang LiaoYing ZouJiaqi ZhangJunyao DengHaowen ZhangJingmin LiuXianghai WangDaming ZuoJiasong GuoPublished in: Journal of neuroinflammation (2021)
Our findings suggest that RhoA depletion in macrophages exerts a detrimental effect on Wallerian degeneration and nerve regeneration, which is most likely due to the impaired migration and phagocytosis of macrophages resulted from disrupted RhoA/ROCK/MLCK pathway. Since previous research has proved RhoA inhibition in neurons was favoring for axonal regeneration, the present study reminds us of that the cellular specificity of RhoA-targeted drugs is needed to be considered in the future application for treating peripheral nerve injury.