USE OF A LECTIN AS AN ENTEROCYTE-SPECIFIC CELL-SURFACE MARKER FOR FLOW CYTOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ISOLATED NATIVE SMALL-INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL-CELLS

Little use has been made of now cytometry in evaluating small intestin al epithelial cells. Obtaining pure epithelial cell populations devoid of peripheral blood contaminants and intraepithelial lymphocytes cont ributes to the difficulties encountered in now cytometry studies. We h ave investigated the use of lectins as enterocyte specific cell marker s using lectin histochemistry, and have identified one lectin, UEA-1, which binds exclusively and specifically to intestinal epithelial cell brush border. Additionally, we have exploited that specificity using now cytometry and FITC-UEA-1 to identify and separate native intestina l epithelial cells from a mixed cell population isolated by mechanical vibration. This fluorescent-lectin technique is a unique and simple m ethod to identify native small intestinal epithelial cells in a mixed cell population; it may be exploited by now cytometric sorting of a pu re population for biochemical study or as an enterocyte specific label for surface receptor flow cytometric studies in the research or clini cal setting. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.