Figure 2. Reactivity of human respiratory tissues with lectins specific for different sialic acid linkages.
Res, respiratory bronchiole (adjacent to alveoli); Ter, terminal bronchiole (distal to alveoli); Alv, alveolus. The green shows reaction with Sambucus nigra lectin, which indicates the presence of sialic acid linked to galactose by an α2–6-linkage. The red shows reaction with Maackia amurensis lectin, indicating the presence of sialic acid linked to galactose by an α2–6-linkage. (Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: images reproduced from Shinya et al. 2006 [29])