Wheat germ agglutinin binding in rat primary sensory neurons: a histochemical study

The binding of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) to L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells in the rat was studied with the WGA-FITC conjugate. These cells were also examined with regard to overlap between WGA staining and choleragenoid-like immunoreactivity. The DRG cells showed varying intensity of the staining, which was confined to the cytoplasm. The majority of the small cells were heavily stained, whereas the large cells showed less or occasionally no staining. Lectin binding was observed along nerve fibres in the ganglion, and appeared to be localized to the Schwann cells and to the nodes of Ranvier. Strong staining was also observed in the area surrounding the ganglion cells and seemed to be confined to the satellite cells. A subpopulation of the ganglion cells showed both WGA-staining and choleragenoid-like immunoreactivity. These results indicate a nonuniform affinity of WGA for different subpopulations of DRG neurons.