Lectin histochemical identification of carbohydrate moieties in opossum chemosensory systems during development, with special emphasis on VVA-identified subdivisions in the accessory olfactory bulb.

Lectins, sugar-binding molecules of nonimmune origin, were used in this study to describe the development of the main olfactory and vomeronasal systems in the Brazilian gray short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica. A battery of seven lectins of the N-acetylgalactosamine/galactose-binding group was used. Of the seven lectins, only two, Vicia villosa agglutinin (VVA) and Griffonia (Bandeiraea) simplicifolia lectin I-isolectin B4 (GS I-B4), were specific to the vomeronasal system. The other five lectins recognized carbohydrates in both chemosensory systems, although the binding was more intense in the accessory olfactory system. Furthermore, whereas six of the lectins stained the adult opossum accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) homogeneously, the VVA lectin distinguished two regions of the AOB. Similar to the expression of olfactory marker protein (OMP) (Shnayder et al. [1993] Neuroreport 5:193-196), the rostral half of the AOB stained much darker with VVA than the caudal half, and the onset of the restricted pattern of staining at age 45 days also coincided. We conclude that 1) GS I-B4 and VVA recognize cell surface carbohydrate moieties specific to the vomeronasal, but not to the main olfactory, system, and 2) the carbohydrate moiety that is recognized by the VVA lectin, presumably terminal N-acetyl-galactosamine, is both temporally and spatially restricted in the opossum AOB. These results are discussed in the framework of other known spatially restricted molecules of the two major nasal chemosensory systems.