The application of lectins to the characterization and isolation of mammalian cell populations

Abstract

Mammalian cells invariably contain a vast array of glycosylated moieties, both inside the cell and on the cell surface. There is an increasing awareness of the utility of these carbohydrates in delineating the phenotype or function of many populations of cells. To this end lectins are extremely useful reagents. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins and glycoproteins of non-immune origin derived from numerous plants and animals. A wide variety of lectins with many distinct carbohydrate specificities have been isolated. Historically the most common laboratory techniques utilizing lectins have been agglutination, mitogen stimulation, and fluorescence techniques. Recent advances in the development and conjugation procedure for labels and matrices have led to the creation of numerous novel lectin-based assays. Lectins are currently used not only to identify cells with specified carbohydrate groups, but also to quantitate the carbohydrate groups or to isolate the carbohydrate-bearing cells or structures.

Tolerance to long-term feeding of isolated peanut lectin in the rat: Evidence for a trophic effect on the small intestines.

“…These results reveal that peanut lectin appears capable of inducing a mild hyperplasia of the small intestines. Mitogenicity of certain cell types, typically lymphocytic, has been reported for certain lectins (10,21,22). Recently, Tajiri et al (23) reported for the first time that feeding of purified red kidney bean lectin at 0.1% of diet can stimulate rat small intestinal mucosal DNA synthesis and crypt cell division.…”

Lectin-modified microchannels for mammalian cell capture and purification

“…Such applications require a device that can perform separations on a very small cell population. Standard affinity chromatography columns, which are commonly used for mammalian cell separations (McCoy 1987), are not suitable for this type of application because their macroscopic size can cause significant sample loss for small cell samples. The advent of microfluidic technologies offers a natural solution to this problem.…”