An economic anterograde axonal tracing method using Phaseolus vulgaris agglutinin (PHA) P-form.

Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) has been demonstrated to be an excellent neuroanatomical anterograde tracer. So far there are relatively few applications of this technique, mainly due to the cost of the lectin. Instead of PHA-L, we have successfully used PHA-P, which is a crude and inexpensive form of PHA-L. The sensitivity of the present method, examined in the rat striatonigral pathway, is as high as that of the conventional method. Furthermore, a large amount of PHA-P, injected into the cat eye, demonstrated the retinofugal projection in detail.