There are differences in the pathophysiologic patterns of infectious diseases of nasal mucosa such as rhinitis and sinusitis between children and adults. However an acceptable explanation of such differences has not been clearly established. Anatomical causes such as that the natural ostium of maxillary sinus in children is relatively larger than that in adults have been studied. However, the functional difference of nasal mucosa between children and adults has not been investigated, although it is very important. Glycoprotein is one of the most important substances for defense mechanism, bacterial adhesion and transmission of intercellular information. It there are differences in distribution of glycoproteins according to growth, they might be one of the important clues for understanding the differences of the mucosal function between children and adults. This study is designed to investigate the change of the distribution of glycoproteins in nasal mucosa of guinea pigs according to the postnatal age and sites of nasal mucosa using lectin histochemistry. The significant results obtained are as follows : 1) Con-A and RCA-I binding were noted at birth and DBA was noted from the seventh day after birth in all respiratory mucosa. 2) UEA-I, WGA, and SBA binding were noted from the third day after birth and SBA binding was noted from the seventh day after birth, in ethmoturbinate and upper septum. 3) PNA, WGA and Con-A binding were noted from birth in olfactory mucosa. These results suggest that maturation of the nasal mucosa could progress from the lower to the upper portion of the nasal cavity and that different lectins might be involved in different stages of epithelial maturation.