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Macrophages have been implicated in peripheral nerve regeneration for some time, supposedly through their involvement in Wallerian degeneration, the process by which the distal nerve degenerates after axotomy and is cleared by phagocytosis. Thus, in several studies in which macrophage accumulation in the distal nerve was reduced and Wallerian degeneration inhibited, regeneration was delayed. However, this interpretation ignores the more recent findings that macrophages also accumulate around axotomized cell bodies. The function of macrophage action at this second site has not been clear. In two mutant strains of mice, the slow Wallerian degeneration (Wld^s) mouse and the chemokine receptor CCR2 knock-out mouse, we report that macrophage accumulation after axotomy was abolished in both the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and the distal sciatic nerve. To measure neurite outgrowth, DRG neurons …