BINDING OF PEANUT LECTIN TO THYMIC CORTEX AND GERMINAL-CENTERS OF LYMPHOID-TISSUE

Abstract

The binding pattern of horseradish peroxidase conjugated peanut lectin (HRP-PNL) on frozen sections of lymphoid tissue from man, mouse, rat, hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, sheep and chicken was investigated. PNL binding was highly species dependent; man, mouse and sheep showed strong binding to lymphocytes in thymic cortex and germinal centers; lymphoid tissue from hamster, guinea pig and rabbit did not stain with HRP-PNL and rat showed only lightly positive cells in thymic cortex and germinal centers; all lymphoid tissue from chicken, except the bursal cortex, bound PNL. Neuraminidase treatment of tissues which did not bind PNL resulted in strongly PNL-positive cells. Double binding studies on murine Peyer''s patches with fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugated PNL and tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate anti-Thy-1.2 or anti-Ig reagents revealed 3-10% of PNL positive cells to be Thy-1.2 positive and 70-80% to bear surface Ig.