Summary
Paraffin sections of the trigeminal nerve root of the rat, and human spinal nerve root and trigeminal ganglion were stained with a battery of lectin-horseradish peroxidase conjugates to localize and characterize glycoconjugate (GC) in situ. In the rat the myelin sheath of the peripheral segment contained GC with sialic acid most probably linked to the penultinate disaccharide galactose(β1 → 4)-N-acetylglucosamine (Gal(β1 →)-GlcNAc), and complex type N-glycosidic side chains. The myelin sheath in the central segment differed in containing little if any of the GC named above and in containing GC with terminal β-Gal linked to N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc), terminal GalNAc and fucose. Schwann cells stained for GC with GlcNAc or mannose whereas oligodendroglia stained for GC with the terminal disaccharide Gal-(β1 → 3)-GalNAc and N-glycosidic side chains, especially in presumed Golgi zones, but also in processes continued as the outer myelin sheath. The human myelin sheath in the central segment differed from that of the rat in not staining with lectins specific for fucose and terminal GalNAc. Sialic acid and terminal β-Gal were seen in the human central segment but these sugars appeared to bind to astroglial structures rather than to the myelin sheath as in the rat. Astrocytes in both rat and man were stained by two fucose-binding lectins. Several lectins revealed affinity for GC in the neurilemmal sheath, and staining of this structure was stronger in the human specimens. Neurons in the human trigeminal ganglion ranged from unstained to strongly positive for fucoconjugate in cytoplasmic bodies and plasmalemma. Positive ganglion cells gave rise to unmyelinated fibers which also stained for fucoconjugate. Remak fibers and their extensions into the substantia gelatinosa of the human spinal cord stained strongly for content of fucose.
The stronger lectin affinity for N-glycosidic core sugars in the peripheral as compared with the central segment suggests that lectins localize Po protein in peripheral myelin. The reactivity for several sugars in the central segment can possibly be attributed to myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) of central myelin, but lectin staining for GalNAc shows in addition a biochemically unrecognized GC with O-glycosidic linked oligosaccharides in myelin. The lectin cytochemistry indicates that the 170 K Dalton glycoprotein with PNA affinity obtained from rat sciatic nerves occurs in nodes of Ranvier.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asbury AK (1982) Peripheral nerves. In: Haymaker W, Adams RD (eds) Histology and histopathology of the nervous system. Charles C Thomas, Illinois, pp 1566–1610
Carpenter MB, Sutin J (1983) Human neuroanatomy. 8th edition. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore London 1983, p 113
Eng LF, De Armond SJ (1983) Immunochemistry of the glial fibrillary acidic protein. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol 5:19–39
Everly JL, Quarles RH, Brady RO (1977) Proteins and glycoproteins in myelin purified from the developing bovine and human central nervous systems. J Neurochem 28:95–101
Figlewicz DA, Quarles RH, Johnson D, Barbarash GR, Sternberger NH (1981) Biochemical demonstration of the myelin-associated glycoprotein in the peripheral nervous system. J Neurochem 37:749–758
Gamble HF (1976) Spinal and cranial nerve roots. In: Landon DN (ed) The peripheral nerve. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 330–354
Goldstein IJ, Hayes CE (1978) The lectins: carbohydrate-binding proteins of plants and animals. Adv Carbohydr Chem Biochem 35:127–340
Graham Jr RC, Karnovsky MJ (1966) The early stages of absorption of injected horseradish peroxidase in the proximal tubules of mouse kidney: ultrastructural cytochemistry by a new technique. J Histochem Cytochem 14:291–302
Greenfield S, Brostoff S, Eylar EH, Morell P (1973) Protein composition of myelin of the peripheral nervous system. J Neurochem 20:1207–1216
Hennigar RA, Schulte BA, Spicer SS (1985) Heterogeneous distribution of glycoconjugates in human kidney tubules. Anat Rec 211:376–390
Ishaque A, Roomi MW, Szymanska I, Kowalski S, Eylar EH (1980) The PO glycoprotein of peripheral nerve myelin. Can J Biochem 58:913–921
Katsuyama T, Spicer SS (1978) Histochemical differentiation of complex carbohydrates with variants of the concanavalin Ahorseradish peroxidase method. J Histochem Cytochem 26:233–250
Kitamura K, Yamanaka T, Uyemura K (1975) On basic proteins in bovine peripheral nerve myelin. Biochim Biophys Acta 379:582–591
Kitamura K, Suzuki M, Uyemura K (1976) Purification and partial characterization of two glycoproteins in bovine peripheral nerve myelin membrane. Biochim Biophys Acta 455:806–816
Kitamura K, Suzuki A, Suzuki M, Uyemura K (1979) Amino acid sequence of the glycopeptide derived from a major glycoprotein in bovine peripheral nerve myelin. FEBS Lett 100:67–70
Kochibe N, Furukawa K (1980) Purification and properties of a novel fucose-specific hemagglutinin of Aleuria aurantia. Biochemistry 19:2841–2846
Mason TE, Phifer RF, Spicer SS, Swallow RS, Dreskin RB (1969) An immunoglobulin-enzyme bridge method for localizing tissue antigens. J Histochem Cytochem 17:563–569
Matthieu JM, Brady RO, Quarles RH (1974) Developmental change in a myelin-associated glycoprotein: a comparative study in rodents. Dev Biol 37:146–152
Matus A, DePetris S, Raff MC (1973) Mobility of concanavalin A receptors in myelin and synaptic membranes. Nature New Biology 244:278–280
Miller RL (1982) A sialic acid-specific lectin from the slug Limax flavus. J Invertebr Pathol 39:210–214
Poduslo JF, Harman JL, McFarlin DE (1980) Lectin receptors in central nervous system myelin. J Neurochem 34:1733–1744
Quarles RH (1979) Glycoproteins in myelin and myelin-related membranes. In: Margolis RU & Margolis RK (eds) Complex carbohydrates of nervous tissue. Plenum Press, New York, pp 209–233
Quarles RH, Everly JL (1977) Glycopeptide fractions prepared from purified central and peripheral rat myelin. Biochim Biophys Acta 466:176–186
Quarles RH, Everly JL, Brady RO (1972) Demonstration of a glycoprotein which is associated with a purified myelin fraction from rat brain. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 47:491–497
Quarles RH, Everly JL, Brady RO (1973) Evidence for the close association of a glycoprotein with myelin in rat brain. J Neurochem 21:1177–1191
Roomi MW, Ishaque A, Khan NR, Eylar EH (1978) The PO protein: the major glycoprotein of peripheral nerve myelin. Biochim Biophys Acta 536:112–121
Schulte BA, Spicer SS (1983) Light microscopic detection of sugar residues in glycoconjugates of salivary glands and the pancreas with lectin-horseradish peroxidase conjugates. I. Mouse. Histochem J 15:1217–1238
Shuman S, Hardy M, Pleasure D (1983) Peripheral nervous system myelin and Schwann cell glycoproteins: identification by lectin binding and partial purification of a peripheral nervous system myelin-specific 170,000 molecular weight glycoprotein. J Neurochem 41:1277–1285
Spicer SS, Warren L (1960) The histochemistry of sialic acid containing mucoproteins. J Histochem Cytochem 8:135–137
Spicer SS, Schulte BA, Thomopoulous GN, Parmley RT, Takagi M (1983) Cytochemistry of complex carbohydrates by light and electron microscopy: available methods and their application. In: Wagner BM, Fleischmajer R, Kaufman N (eds) Connective tissue diseases. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, pp 163–211
Sternberger NH, Quarles RH, Itoyama Y, Webster H de F (1979) Myelin-associated glycoprotein demonstrated immunocytochemically in myelin and myelin-forming cells of developing rat. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76:1510–1514
Stoward PJ, Spicer SS, Miller RL (1980) Histochemical reactivity of peanut lectin-horseradish peroxidase conjugate. J Histochem Cytochem 28:979–990
Streit WJ, Schulte BA, Balentine JD, Spicer SS (1985a) Histochemical localization of galactose containing glycoconjugate at peripheral nodes of Ranvier in the rat. J Histochem Cytochem 33:33–39
Streit WJ, Schulte BA, Spicer SS, Balentine JD (1985b) Histochemical localization of galactose-containing glycoconjugates in sensory neurons and their processes in the central and peripheral nervous system of the rat. J Histochem Cytochem 33:1042–1052
Streit WJ, Schulte BA, Balentine JD, Spicer SS (1986) Evidence for glycoconjugate in nociceptive primary sensory neurons and its origin from the Golgi complex. Brain Res (in press)
Tchacarof E, Posalaky Z (1964) On the fixation of lipids in sections of unfixed material. Folia Histochem Cytochem 2:123–129
Tollefsen SE, Kornfeld R (1983a) Isolation and characterization of lectins from Vicia villosa. Two distinct carbohydrate binding activities are present in seed extracts. J Biol Chem 258:5156–5171
Tollefsen SE, Kornfeld R (1983b) The B4 lectin from Vicia villosa seeds interacts with N-acetylgalactosamine residues α-linked to serine or threonine residues in cell surface glycoproteins. J Biol Chem 258:5172–5176
Trapp BD, Itoyama Y, Sternberger NH, Quarles RH, Webster H de F (1981) Immunocytochemical localization of Po protein in Golgi complex membranes and myelin of developing rat Schwann cells. J Cell Biol 90:1–6
Wood JG, McLaughlin BJ (1975) The visualization of concanavalin-A binding sites in the interperiod line of rat sciatic nerve myelin. J Neurochem 24:233–235
Wood JG, McLaughlin BJ (1976) Cytochemical studies of lectin binding sites in smooth membrane cisternae of rat brain. Brain Res 118:15–26
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by NIH Grants AM-10956, HL-29775 and United Health and Medical Research Foundation of South Carolina, Inc. Grant No. 79
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakagawa, F., Schulte, B.A. & Spicer, S.S. Lectin cytochemical evaluation of somatosensory neurons and their peripheral and central processes in rat and man. Cell Tissue Res. 245, 579–589 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00218559
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00218559