HISTOCHEMICAL STUDY OF THE GLYCOCONJUGATES IN HUMAN UPPER AIRWAY MUCOSA

Glycoconjugates in normal respiratory mucosa were studied histochemically. PAS, HID-AB staining and lectins-HRP methods were used to stain the specimens, which have been obtained from volunteers or the patients with laryngeal cancer. The results obtained were as follows. The larger amounts of sulfo-mucin were observed in laryngeal mucosa than it in nasal mucosa. However, sialo-mucin were shown much more dominant in nasal mucosa compared with it in laryngeal mucosa. Some sugar residues stained by RCA, PNA, SBA were detected in several different grades in goblet cells and mucous cells of mucosal gland, while serous cells were unreactive. UEA-I, a lectin specific to fucosyl residue, were observed at all mucous cells and serous cells in nasal gland, whereas only some mucous cells in laryngeal mucosa. WGA and DBA applied to the specimens of this series were also shown. In the squamous epithelium of laryngeal mucosa, their middle layers were stained characteristically with PNA, SBA and UEA-I.