Immunohistochemistry of a section of rat facial nucleus 7 days following axotomy. These neurons are capable of regenerating their axons and also, concomitant with regeneration, strongly upregulate α-internexin in their perikarya. Other central neurons which are not able to regenerate their axons do not upregulate this protein after axotomy and untreated facial neurons normally show only very low levels of α-internexin. Both findings suggest that α-internexin has a role in axonal regeneration.

Western blot analysis of different tissue lysates using mouse mAb to α-internexin dilution 1:10,000 in red: [1] protein standard, [2] rat brain, [3] rat spinal cord, [4] mouse brain, [5] mouse spinal cord, and [6] cow spinal cord lysate. The MO22102 antibody reveals the α-internexin protein with an apparent molecular weight of 64-66kDa, with some variability across species.