A comparative study of lectin binding to cultured chick sternal chondrocytes and intact chick sternum.

Cultured chondrocytes derived from the caudal and cephalic ends of embryonic chick sterna have been compared with each other and with whole sternum, by using a panel of 21 lectins to probe the distribution of oligosaccharides in glycoconjugates of cells and matrix at various times of culture or development. On culture in collagen gels, the cells changed their morphology with time, degrading glycan in the surrounding culture medium and depositing new matrix, the glycan content of which reflected the site of origin of the cells, indicating that the glycan phenotype of both cells and matrix ('glycotype') was predetermined and persistent. Sterna of embryonic chicks showed unexpected complexity in their distribution pattern of glycan, containing at least six distinct regions. Major regional temporal differences were evident among saccharides terminating in alpha-N-acetyl galactosamine and beta-galactose, while changes in glycans terminating in fucose, sialic acid and alpha-mannose were somewhat less marked. Subsets of complex N-glycans changed little.