Localization of receptors for Dolichos biflorus agglutinin in early post implantation embryos in mice.

The distribution of receptors for Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA) was studied by histochemical staining of paraffin sections with HRP- or FITC-DBA in mouse embryos at stages ranging from 4.5 to 12.5 days post coitum. Preimplantation blastocysts did not express DBA receptors. The receptors first appeared in primitive endoderm cells in 5-day embryos. In 5.5- to 7.5-day embryos, both the parietal and extraembryonic visceral endoderm cells expressed the receptors. Reichert's membrane was negative for DBA receptors. The columnar cells of the embryonic visceral endoderm (EVE) strongly expressed the receptors, while the flat cells at the antimesometrial pole of the EVE were negative or patchily positive. In 8- to 9-day embryos, the receptors were expressed in the epithelium of the fore- and hindgut. In 9.5- to 12.5-day embryos, the epithelial cells of various regions of the gut expressed the receptors, although the endodermal cells of the liver and the pancreas, both derived from the foregut, did not express them. In 8- to 12.5-day embryos both the visceral and parietal yolk sac endoderm were positive in DBA receptors. The receptors were localized exclusively on the free surface facing the yolk cavity or on the luminal surface and subjacent cytoplasm. All endodermal cells which were positive are known to have absorptive activity. All other tissues in these stages were negative in DBA receptors.