title: Uptake and transport of lectins from the cerebrospinal fluid by cells of the immature mouse brain.
abstract: 40 mice (C57BL/6J) 2, 3, 6, and 10 d old were injected intraventricularly with 2% wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) or soybean agglutinin (SBA). The transport of lectins from the ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) into brain parenchyma was studied by an unlabelled antibody technique ( BORGES and SIDMAN 1982). The granule product of the immunohistochemical reaction was found in the cytoplasm of ventricular ependymal cells, the choroid plexus and meninges in all age groups studied. Penetration of lectins into brain parenchyma was higher in younger animals and at more immature-cell-surrounded parts of lateral and the IVth ventricle. The stain product was dispersed throughout the neuropil excepting cell nuclei. Higher concentration of lectins appeared in nerve cell cytoplasm of some regions of the brain of younger animals (P2 to P3); in 10 d old mice granules of stain appeared in the cytoplasm of PURKINJE cells and pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus. A fiber-like staining, apparent especially in large commissures adjacent to brain ventricles (corpus callosum, fornix hippocampi) in all age groups, suggests that lectins are transported within axons, even at the earliest postnatal ages. Unlike WGA, densely stained glial cells appeared in parenchyma of SBA injected animals, especially of the younger age group (P3 to P6). The results of this study confirm earlier findings that macromolecules within the ventricular CSF can penetrate into brain parenchyma but suggest that the penetration is higher in less mature animals and at the ventricle regions surrounded by less differentiated parenchyma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000276:immunology*; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000276:immunology*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D037102:Lectins / Q000032:analysis; D051379:Mice; D037121:Plant Lectins; D030262:Soybean Proteins; D014909:Wheat Germ Agglutinins; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins; D037121:Plant Lectins; D030262:Soybean Proteins; D014909:Wheat Germ Agglutinins; C028824:soybean lectin; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins