Lectin cytochemistry on developing rat submandibular gland primary cultures

Lectin cytochemistry was performed in vitro on primary cultures from the rat submandibular gland. For this purpose, prepubertal rats (17, 27, 33 days old) of both sexes were used. Several types of medium supplements were tested and it was found that cells survived until 15 days in presence of all medium supplements and extracellular matrix gel. The binding patterns of all FITC/TRITC-labeled lectins, with and without prior sialidase digestion and deacetylation, were analyzed in a confocal laser scanning microscope. In particular, the occurrence of C4 acetylated sialic acid linked to beta-galactose at day 27 and the presence of fucose residues at day 33 indicated that lectin probes applied to cultured cells give results similar to those obtained in intact tissues and can be used as markers of growth and differentiation.