title: Identification of the normal microglial population in human and rodent nervous tissue using lectin-histochemistry.
abstract: Mistletoe lectin-1 (ML-1) and Ricinus communis agglutinin-120 (RCA-1) both possess D-galactose-specific surface-binding sites. They were used to selectively identify microglial populations in aldehyde-fixed normal brain tissue by lectin immunohistochemistry on paraffin and frozen sections. Mistletoe lectin-1 was superior to RCA-1 in labelling microglia in the rat brain, whereas RCA-1 labelled human microglia better than ML-1. Thus, RCA-1 and ML-1 supplement each other for identifying microglial in human and rodent central nervous system tissues. The high reproducibility of the results and the applicability of the technique to routine histology, using formalin-fixed tissue, should facilitate study of the histogenesis and role of microglia in the CNS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Sciences, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Konno
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D037102:Lectins / Q000276:immunology; D014784:Mistletoe / Q000276:immunology; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D037121:Plant Lectins; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D012278:Ricinus / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins; D037121:Plant Lectins