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Dramatic changes occur in neuropeptide expression in sensory and sympathetic neurons following axonal injury. Based on the finding that the cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) plays an important role in mediating these changes in sympathetic neurons, its participation in triggering changes in sensory neurons was examined. By the use of transgenic mice in which the LIF gene had been knocked out, LIF was found to contribute to the induction of galanin expression in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) after sciatic nerve lesion. On the other hand, two other neuropeptide changes that occur in DRG under these conditions, the reduction of substance P and induction of neuropeptide Y, were independent of LIF expression. In the sympathetic superior cervical ganglion, transection of the postganglionic nerves close to the ganglion resulted in a rapid induction of LIF mRNA in the ganglion and in the lesioned nerve trunk. In …