Subdivisions of the motor and somatosensory thalamus of primates revealed with Wisteria floribunda agglutinin histochemistry

Abstract

We obtained well-differentiated staining of thalamic subdivisions in rhesus macaques and squirrel monkeys using a lectin, Wisteria floribunda agglutinin (WFA), that labels extracellular matrix proteoglycans. Regional variations in staining were observed within the motor and somatosensory thalamic regions that bear on current interpretations of the organization of these regions. The pattern of WFA staining was generally similar to that obtained with Cat-301 antibody, which also stains proteoglycans. However, WFA reliably produced selective staining in both squirrel monkeys and macaques, whereas Cat-301 stained macaques more consistently than squirrel monkeys.

Neurochemical organization of inferior pulvinar complex in squirrel monkeys and macaques revealed by acetylcholinesterase histochemistry, calbindin and Cat-301 immunostaining, andWisteria floribunda agglutinin binding

“…WFA histochemistry produced discrete patterns of stain that resembled the distribution of Cat-301 immunoreactivity in many regions of primate thalamus (Preuss et al, 1998). In the lateral geniculate nucleus (Fig.…”

“…Both Cat-301 antibody (Hockfield et al, 1983) and the lectin W. floribunda agglutinin bind to glial elements in the neuropil and to pericellular nets (Brü ckner et al, 1993Härtig et al, 1994;Seeger et al, 1994). WFA has been shown to label selected neuronal populations in primate thalamus (Preuss et al, 1998); thus, we examined WFA binding as a further possible means of identifying inferior pulvinar subdivisions.…”

Responses of Neurons in the Middle Temporal Visual Area After Long-Standing Lesions of the Primary Visual Cortex in Adult New World Monkeys

“…In owl monkey 00-54, sets of coronal sections were also processed for immunocytochemistry for Wisteria floribunda agglutinin (WFA; L-1766; Sigma, St. Louis, MO) according to the method of Preuss et al (1998). Briefly, sections were rinsed in 0.05 M Tris-buffered saline (TBS), blocked for 2 hr in TBS with sheep serum and 0.1% Triton X-100, and incubated overnight in primary antibody solution (0.005 mg/ml).…”

Wisteria floribunda lectin is associated with specific cell types in the ventral cochlear nucleus of the gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus

“…The lectin that we used, WFA, has been used in many parts of the central nervous system to distinguish populations of neurons (e.g., Nakagawa et al, 1986a;Brückner et al, 1994;Seeger et al, 1994;Preuss et al, 1998). A number of other markers for specific components of the ECM are found in the same or similar locations as the epitopes that bind to WFA (Lander et al, 1997;Gray et al, 1999;Brück-ner et al, 1994Brück-ner et al, , 2000Matthews et al, 2002).…”