Fluorescence histochemistry of the gastrin cell infetal and adult man.

Immunoreactive gastrin cells were demonstrated in the human antral and duodenal mucosa. No gastrin immunoreactivity was seen in pancreatic islets. Formaldehyde- or Bouin-fixed material was used throughout for immunohistochemistry. Antral and duodenal gastrin cells, as well as pancreatic A2-cells, displayed strong formaldehyde- ozone- and formaldehyde-HCl-induced fluorescence, whereas the pancreatic A1-cells (claimed to store gastrin) were nonfluorescent. In the fetus, gastrin cells appeared first in the duodenal mucosa (earliest stage examined, 11 weeks) and much later in the antrum. The fluorescence histochemical properties of the fetal gastrin cells were not different from the adult.