 Treatment of Schwann cells with the collected supernatant shows that it is a mitogenic factor and thus plays an important role in the proliferation of Schwann cells.Macrophages are also involved in the secretion factors that promote nerve regeneration.Macrophages secrete not only interleukin-1, a cytokine that induces expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) in Schwann cells but also an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra).