Binding of the isolectin I-B4 from Griffonia simplicifolia to the general visceral afferents in the vagus nerve: a light- and electron-microscope study in the rat.

Prominent binding to the isolectin I-B4 from Griffonia simplicifolia (I-B4) was observed not only in the terminal area of general somatic afferents (lamina II of the medullary and the spinal dorsal horns), but also in the terminal area of the general visceral afferents (nucleus of the solitary tract, NST). The vast majority of neuronal cell bodies in the nodose ganglion (NG), including those with substance P-like immunoreactivity, also showed the I-B4-binding. After ganglionectomy of the NG, the I-B4-binding in the solitary tract and NST was highly reduced throughout the solitary tract and the NST on the side ipsilateral to the operation. The I-B4-binding was electron microscopically observed in many axon terminals within the NST.