title: In vivo lectin-binding of photoreceptors and interphotoreceptor matrix in rat.
abstract: The in vivo distribution of lectin receptors in the photoreceptors and interphotoreceptor matrix (IPM) was studied by histochemistry and light microscopy. Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated lectins (peanut agglutinin, PNA; Ricinus communis agglutinin-1, RCA-1; or wheat germ agglutinin, WGA) were administered into the subretinal space of living rats, and 1 and 6 hours later eyeballs were enucleated to examine retinal tissues with a light microscope. The surfaces of cone photoreceptor outer segments and inner segments, and/or cone-associated IPM were labeled preferentially with PNA at 1 and 6 hours after its subretinal administration. One hour after subretinal injection, RCA-1 labeling appeared in the distal surface of the outer segments, the basal region of the inner segments, and the surface of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). At 6 hours the basal portion of the outer segments showed RCA-1 labeling as well. The distribution of labeling by WGA was uniform throughout the outer segments and/or the IPM domain except for the most distal portion of the outer segments. These observations conform for the most part to previous in vitro experiments, and indicate, together with previously not explicitly described observations, that a spatial heterogeneity in the vertical and horizontal directions exists in the IPM domain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kagoshima University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takumi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Uehara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D010857:Pigment Epithelium of Eye / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011975:Receptors, Mitogen / Q000378:metabolism; D012374:Rod Cell Outer Segment / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins; D011975:Receptors, Mitogen; C032650:Ricinus communis lectin receptor; C038223:peanut agglutinin receptor; C027503:wheat germ agglutinin receptor