Lectin binding pattern of intestinal goblet cells in horse, pig and rabbit

GALOTTA JM; MÁRQUEZ SG; ZANUZZI CN; GIMENO EJ; PORTIANSKY EL; BARBEITO, CG

Animal Biology Journal

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Año: 2009 vol. 1 p. 49 - 58

1949-498X

The carbohydrate expression of goblet cells in the intestine of pigs, rabbits and horses was characterized using lectinhistochemistry. Paraffin embedded intestinal slices were incubated with the following biotinylated lectins: Con-A, WGA, DBA, SBA, PNA, RCA-1 and UEA-1. Except for some rectal goblet cells present in pigs and horses, no reactivity was found to Con-A. On the contrary, reactivity to DBA, WGA and RCA-1 was heterogeneous in all the intestinal sections of the studied species. PNA reactivity was absent in the small intestine with the exception of few positive cells present in the horse. DBA did not bind to colonic goblet cells in the pig, while SBA did not bind the same cells in pigs and horses. RCA-1 staining was negative in the large intestine of the horse. The lecting binding with UEA-1 differed among different intestinal sections and species, remaining unstained in the small intestine of rabbits, colon of horses and rectum of pigs. Our results led us to conclude that the lectin binding pattern of the intestinal goblet cells is characteristic of each animal species and shows variations related with the intestinal segment analyzed.