Binding and retrograde transport of leukemia inhibitory factor by the sensory nervous system

Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a peptide growth factor with multiple activities, has recently been shown to support the generation and survival of sensory neurons in cultures of mouse neural crest and dorsal root ganglia (DRG). We have conducted binding experiments with ‘*+LIF on cultures of DRG to determine the receptor distribution for LIF on these cells and found that at least 60 % of the sensory neurons in the cultures bound i251-LIF, all of which could be eliminated by the addition of unlabeled LIF. The other cells in the culture, which morphologically appeared to be Schwann cells, did not bind appreciable quantities of ‘251-LIF. In order to inves-tigate whether LIF is retrogradely transported to sensory neurons in viva, i251-LIF was injected into the footpads and gastrocnemius muscles of newborn and adult mice, follow-ing sciatic nerve ligation. Radioactivity accumulated in th