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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Major Components of the Light Microscope
Published on: July 30, 2008
Light microscopy : overview and basic methods
1Breast Cancer Research Group, University College London Medical School, London, UK.
Abstract:
Lectins are proteins or glycoproteins of nonimmune origin derived from plants, animals, or microorganisms that have specificity for terminal or subterminal carbohydrate residues. They are sensitive, stable, and easy-to-use tools. lectin histochemistry and cytochemistry can provide an extraordinarily sensitive detection system for changes in glycosylation and carbohydrate expression that may occur during embryogenesis, growth, and disease. Although carbohydrates occur in a vast range of permutations that may be present in and between cells, there is frequently a dominance and conservation of structures to give specific markers of cell types or differentiation. lectin histochemistry or cytochemistry can reveal subtle alterations in glycosylation between otherwise indistinguishable cells.
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