Analysis of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA),Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L), andLens culinaris agglutinin (LCA) binding to isolated rat neocortical membrane glycoproteins and to brain tissue sections

Different lectin transport directions — either anterograde or retrograde in tracing neuronal pathways — have been attributed to different sugar specificities of the lectins. To test this hypothesis, transmembrane neocortical glycoproteins were isolated to analyze their lectin-binding properties. The lectins tested exhibited a broad binding pattern to these glycoproteins. Arguing against the above-mentioned hypothesis, sugar residues of transmembranal glycoproteins probably are not exclusively responsible for the different transport directions observed in lectin tracing.