Twenty-fours hours after complete coronary artery ligation, GAP43/nestin(+) fibres were detected innervating the peri-infarct/infarct region of the ischemically damaged rat heart, remained elevated in 4 days post-MI rats and gradually returned to levels observed in sham rats 7 days after myocardial infarction. The gene discussed is NES; the disease is myocardial infarction.