Biodegradable metallic wires made of Magnesium (Mg) can potentially be used to bridge nerve gaps due to injury to facilitate the complete functional recovery.  The functionality of Mg materials could be improved using alloying elements such as Lithium (Li), however, both ions are biointeractive and can influence the cell behavior. In this project, we studied the influence of Mg/Mg-Li alloys on the release of MCP-1, a macrophage-recruiting chemokine, using the RT4-D6P2T Schwannoma cell line. First, we tested two nerve injury models to induce MCP-1 release (ELISA) from RT4 Schwannoma cells – freeze-killed Schwannoma cell extract and nerve extract. For both injury stimulants, there was a dose-dependent increase in MCP-1 release. However, the nerve extracts induced a quicker release of MCP-1, indicating that there are factors in addition to the cellular damage-associated molecules that elicit the response. Using the freeze-killed cell extracts, we measured the change in MCP󠅯-1 release due to Mg, Mg-2.5wt%Li and Mg-14wt% Li foils in indirect contact with the cells. While all metals reduced the MCP-1 release after 48 h, Mg-14wt%Li was quicker and the most effective, resulting in a reduction up to 85%. These results suggest that the Li content has a considerable influence on the cytokine profile of Schwann cells and Mg-Li materials could have an influence on the macrophage recruitment.