Using mRNA differential display to identify cerebral ischemia-responsive mRNAs, we isolated and cloned a cDNA derived from a novel gene, that has been designated LCHN. Antisense mRNA in situ hybridization and immunoblotting confirmed LCHN expression to be induced in the rat hippocampus following transient forebrain ischemia. The deduced amino acid sequence of the novel LCHN cDNA contains an open reading frame of 455 amino acids, encoding a protein with a predicted molecular mass of approximately 51 kDa. Although LCHN is highly conserved between rat, mouse, and human, the deduced amino acid sequence of LCHN does not possess significant homology to other known genes. LCHN immunoreactivity is detected within the somatodendritic compartment of neurons, is also present on dendritic growth cones, but is not detected on astrocytes. The induction of LCHN in the hippocampus following ischemic injury may have functional consequences, as the ectopic over-expression of LCHN generated neurons with longer and more branched axons and dendrites. Taken together, these data suggest that LCHN could play a role in neuritogenesis, as well as in neuronal recovery and/or restructuring in the hippocampus following transient cerebral ischemia.