Mucosubstance histochemistry of the normal mucosa and carcinoma of the large intestine. Galactose oxidase-Schiff reaction and lectin stainings.

Thirty-four cases of carcinoma of the human large intestine were studied employing a battery of histochemical techniques to identify and characterize mucosubstances, including galactose oxidase-Schiff (GOS) reaction and stainings with horseradish peroxidase-labeled lectins. The results disclosed that the goblet cell-type mucin (GCM) of the left colon differed from that of the right colon in containing 8-O-acetylated N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) more abundantly and 8-O-acetylated NANA-(alpha Fuc)-beta Gal type terminal structures. The right colonic GCM, on the other hand, was shown to contain alpha Fuc-beta Gal type predominantly. Surface coat-type mucin (SCM) showed consistent histochemical reactivities regardless of the sites in the large intestine. The transitional mucosa surrounding carcinoma tissues characteristically revealed decreased sulfation and neuraminidase-induced GOS reactivity, suggesting the presence of NANA-beta Gal type terminals. The carcinoma tissues resembled the transitional mucosa in showing neuraminidase-induced GOS reactivity, but differed from the latter in possessing intense UEA-I reactivity. The present study indicated that the refined histochemical techniques recently developed were quite useful for understanding the histochemical reactivities correlating with sugar structures.