Gastrin cell hyperplasia in rats with chronic antral stimulation.

Rats surgically prepared with the antrum transposed onto the colon were compared with suitable control rats, to investigate whether chronic antral stimulation modifies gastrin cell and other endocrine cell populations. Gastrin cell and argyrophil cell density per unit area were studied in antrum using a quantitative method after staining by immunofluorescence and Grimelius argyrophily, respectively. Both gastrin cells and argyrophil cells increased significantly in density per unit area after antrocolic transposition (P smaller than 0.001). The augmentation of gastrin cells per glandular tube (78%) was also significant (P smaller than 0.001). Electron-microscopic observations confirmed these results. On the other hand, in each group, the topographic distribution of the two categories of cells was different, and the number of gastrin cells was statistically greater than that of the argyrophil cells. Thus, it appeared evident that gastrin cells were not argyrophilic. Several hypotheses to explain the mechanism of this hyperplasia of endocrine cells are discussed. It is concluded that the increase in the gastrin cell density could be one possible explanation for the hypergastrinemia observed in the antrocolic transposition model.