Interactions between carbohydrate ligands and their receptors play an important role in cell adhesion and migration in many tissues. Cell-surface carbohydrates that contain terminal galactose have previously been implicated in primary sensory axon growth in the rodent olfactory system. The aim of the present study was to determine whether galectin-1, a galactose-binding receptor, was expressed within the rat primary olfactory pathway. Immunohistochemical and in situ hybridisation analyses revealed expression of galectin-1 by primary sensory olfactory neurons during the major embryonic period of axonogenesis as well as in maturity. In the adult olfactory bulb, galectin-1 was expressed by both second-order projection neurons and interneurons and was selectively localised to the synaptic neuropil layers. Mitral cells, the principal postsynaptic target of primary olfactory axons, began expressing this lectin soon after genesis and maintained high levels into adulthood. The expression of galectin-1 in the primary olfactory pathway and olfactory bulb neuropil suggests a role for this lectin both in the initial formation and in the subsequent maintenance of neuronal connections between the peripheral and the central olfactory neurons as well as between neurons within the bulb.