Sciatic nerve crush experiments and dosage of CNTF at different time points showed that expression of this trophic factor remained significantly lower in CMT1A rats than in normal controls; moreover, in uninjured CMT1A sciatic nerves CNTF levels further decreased with ageing, thus paralleling the molecular signs of axonal impairment, that is increased expression of non-phosphorylated neurofilaments and amyloid precursor protein.