Lysozyme producers in nasal mucosa. An immunocytochemical study.

The question of whether or not goblet cells in the nasal mucosa are lysozyme producers has yet to be examined. In the present study, lysozyme was localized by the protein A-gold technique in human nasal mucosa with special attention to goblet cells. Both light and electron microscopic immunostaining revealed lysozyme in the secretory granules of the goblet cells, although far less than the amount present in the serous cells of the nasal glands. We concluded that the nasal glands were the main producer and goblet cells the subsidiary producer of lysozyme in nasal mucosa.